Society

Bank of Japan policymaker Yutaka Harada praises Hitler's economic policies

Jun 30 (Japan Times) - A Bank of Japan policymaker praised Adolf Hitler's economic policies on Thursday, but said they enabled the Nazi dictator to do "horrible" things to the world.

Yutaka Harada, a member of the board of Japan's central bank, said Western policymakers helped bring Hitler to power by being slow to apply John Maynard Keynes' proposals to fight the Great Depression.

Hitler had taken "wonderful" fiscal and monetary stimulus steps, which in turn led to "something horrible for the world" as his strengthened grip on power led to the Holocaust and massive human casualties during World War II, Harada said in a seminar on monetary policy in Tokyo.

Hitler became German chancellor in 1933.

"Because Hitler had taken appropriate fiscal and monetary policy steps, tragedy resulted. What I'm saying is that someone should have taken appropriate fiscal and monetary policy steps before Hitler did," said Harada, an academic-turned BOJ policymaker.

Fiscal policy involves setting government spending and tax rates, whereas monetary policy involves money supply and interest rates set by a central bank.

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