was initially equities, it has been expanding to include also bonds and loans. in europe and china especially, there has been a dramatic increase in the issuance of so - called green bonds, to finance projects aimed at addressing environmental problems. these moves are expected to lead to environment - related innovation in such areas as the use of renewable energy. united nations, " world population prospects : 2019 revision. " olli seppanen, william j. fisk, and david faulkner, " cost benefit analysis of the night - time ventilative cooling in office building. " ( 2003 ), https : / / escholarship. org / content / qt3j82f642 / qt3j82f642. pdf? t = li4xtt 7 melissa dell, benjamin f. jones, and benjamin a. olken, " what do we learn from the weather? the new climate - economy literature. " journal of economic literature 52 ( 3 ), 740 - 798 ( 2014 ). of course, appropriate institutional arrangements and guidance by the authorities are essential to maximize the potential of the markets and incentive mechanisms to address these issues. for example, governments and public institutions should continue to engage actively in long - term and large - scale infrastructure investment, as well as in establishing the regulatory systems necessary to deal with environmental issues. initiatives to ensure the smooth functioning of market mechanisms are also important, including establishing frameworks for the standardization of esg investments. of course there are many issues which cannot be dealt with solely by market mechanisms, including international assistance for very low - income countries and direct support for those who are left behind in developing countries. c. addressing the prospective population aging the third topic is the prospective aging of the population. " aging and its policy implications " has been adopted as one of the g20 priorities under japan's presidency. you may perhaps think that aging is not an imminent policy issue in your country. in many emerging countries, the working age population is expected to grow for a while. however, once the birthrate declines and the size of the working age population begins to decrease, the shape of the demographic pyramid could change drastically within a timeframe of perhaps 20 to 30 years. let us take japan's case as an example. in 1970, about 10 workers supported one elderly person. the figure had decreased to 4 workers in 2000, and 2. 3 workers in 2015. the decrease in birthrate and the

paths in turn influence the short - term fluctuations in the economy? for example, during the past three decades, we have seen a contrast in the cyclical and trend behaviors of real output between japan and the united states. from the 1970s to the mid - 1980s, the japanese economy moved in a less volatile manner around the higher trend growth path, compared with the us economy. from the mid - 1980s such an observation was reversed. the japanese economy moved in a more volatile manner around the lower trend growth path. indeed, the 1990s are often referred to as the “ lost decade ” for japan ’ s economy. average growth declined from the mid - three percent in the 1980s to the mid - one percent in the 1990s. the recoveries in the 1990s were not strong enough to lead to self - sustained growth. the recessions were deep and long enough to weaken the economic fundamentals. now the japanese economy is finally reaching the end of the long and painful path of the post - bubble adjustments. our economy has achieved significant progress in overcoming structural impediments. it is gradually gaining momentum for the restoration of sustained growth, and is showing more signs of recovery, spreading from manufacturing to non - manufacturing industries, from large to small firms, and from metropolitan to regional areas. yet we should remain vigilant. we cannot say for sure that the current recovery will be durable and strong enough to push the economy back to a sustained growth path. thus, the questions we should ask here are what makes the current economic upswing different from the past two recoveries, and whether such differences are sufficient for the economy to reach the sustained growth path. the japanese and u. s. experiences in the past three decades i mentioned before remind us of three things. first, such experiences confirm the importance of technological progress as a major engine of economic growth. second, at the same time, they suggest the possibility that some additional factors also play a key role in determining sustained economic growth, such as financial systems and globalization. third, they indicate that a low inflation environment emerges as a new challenge for sustained economic growth. now i will elaborate on some important but often - ignored or newly - emerged factors in achieving sustained economic growth. this year ’ s conference takes up such issues in a well - balanced manner. i am convinced we will be able to broaden and deepen our understanding of economic growth here. implications of globalization let me begin by focusing on the implications of globalization for economic growth. the increased global link