Let's Play Which Way Is Up With Steven Rattner

Economic policy debates in the United States suffer from the fact that participants often have trouble deciding whether the problem is too much of something or too little. They do however know the problem is really bad. Steven Rattner treats us to an excellent example of the which way is up problem in a column in the NYT today.

The focus of the piece is Japan. He notes Japan's recent upturn in growth following the aggressive stimulus policy being pursued by its new prime minister, Shinzo Abe...