Masaru Hayami

Hayami was born in Hyōgo Prefecture. He graduated from The Tokyo College of Commerce (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1947.

Hayami was Chief Executive Officer of the Nissho Iwai Corporation,

He served as Governor of the Bank of Japan from March 20, 1998 to March 19, 2003. He took over the top BOJ role in 1998, after Governor Yasuo Matsushita and Deputy Governor Toshihiko Fukui resigned in connection with a scandal involving leaks of financially sensitive information.

Controversy

Hayami was a controversial BOJ governor because he insisted Japanese politicians must change the structure of the economy before the BOJ could take further measures to end deflation.

He fiercely resisted politicians' demand to loosen monetary policy, thereby increasing the pressure on politicians to reduce stifling regulation, monopolies, and oligopolies in various economic sectors. This strategy stressed Japan's long-term economic health over the short term problems of deflation and recession. However, there are doubts to whether the implementation of his demanded policies had actually served to increase Japan's long-term economic health in the first place.

'Inflation is no solution to economic problems: Regarding inflation policy, first and foremost, I would like to point out that inflation is no solution to economic problems. Inflation policy assumes that moderate inflation will revitalize economic activity, alleviate the debt burden of firms as well as financial institutions, and relieve the fiscal deficit problem. Apparently those who advocate inflation policy argue, while taking due account of its negative effects, that the intended positive effects would be greater than the negative effects under the current situation. But, if we look more closely, the intended positive effects themselves would not likely be achieved.'