Labor-Saving Technology Holding Back Japan’s Growth?

This has been Japan’s year. After several decades of non-existent growth, Prime minister Shinzo Abe’s reforms are finally starting to pay off. Economic growth and inflation is returning to the Asian nation, and this is having a substantial positive impact on consumers. Overnight, Japan’s Cabinet Office reported annualized growth of 1.4% in the third quarter, down from a revised pace of 2.6% in the second quarter. Even though the reading was lower than Q2, it was just above the median forecast of 1.3% and marks the country’s longest growth streak since 2001 (seven consecutive quarters), but are robots aka labor-saving technology preventing…