View source for Masaaki Shirakawa

{{Short description|Japanese economist (born 1949)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Masaaki Shirakawa<br />{{lang|ja|白川 方明}}
|image = Masaaki Shirakawa 2012.jpg
|office = 30th Governor of the Bank of Japan
|primeminister = Yasuo Fukuda<br />Taro Aso<br />Yukio Hatoyama<br />Naoto Kan<br />Yoshihiko Noda<br />[[Shinzo Abe]]
|deputy = Hirohide Yamaguchi<br />Kiyohiko Nishimura
|term_start = April 9, 2008
|term_end = March 19, 2013
|predecessor = Toshihiko Fukui
|successor = Haruhiko Kuroda
|office2 = Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan
|primeminister2 = Yasuo Fukuda
|term_start2 = March 20, 2008
|term_end2 = April 9, 2008
|predecessor2 = Toshirō Mutō<br />Kazumasa Iwata
|successor2 = Kiyohiko Nishimura
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|9|27|df=y}}
|alma_mater = University of Tokyo<br />[[University of Chicago]]
| signature =Masaaki Shirakawa (白川 方明) Signature 2012.png
}}
{{Nihongo|'''Masaaki Shirakawa'''|白川 方明|Shirakawa Masaaki|extra=born September 27, 1949}} is a Japanese economist and the 30th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), and professor at Aoyama Gakuin University. He is also a Director and Vice-Chairman of the [[Bank for International Settlements]] (BIS).

==Early life==
Shirakawa was born in Fukuoka. and he graduated from high school in Kokura.

In 1972, he was awarded a B.A. degree at the University of Tokyo. In 1977, he earned an M.A. in Economics at the [[University of Chicago]].

==Career==
Shirakawa joined the Bank of Japan in 1972. His varied assignments at the bank included a period as General Manager at the Ōita branch. For a time, he was General Manager for the Americas at the bank's office in New York City.

Shirakawa joined the faculty of the graduate school of public policy at Kyoto University in 2006. He returned to BOJ in 2008.

His nomination to be Governor of the Bank was approved on April 9, 2008. Masaaki ranks 6th on the world's most powerful by ''[[Newsweek]]'' along with economic triumvirs [[Ben Bernanke]] (4th) and [[Jean-Claude Trichet]] (5th).

Shirakawa's mandate is "to respond to changes in circumstances in a flexible and timely manner" in a way which can contribute to the sustainable growth and development of Japan. In other words, this means that the role of the head of the BOJ is to effect price stability in Japan and to ensure stability of the financial system.

In 2011 he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets Magazine. He is a member in the [[Group of Thirty]].

In 2013 he accepted a professor post at Aoyama Gakuin University.

==Selected works==
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Masaaki Shirakawa, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 20+ publications in 3 languages and 110+ library holdings.
{{dynamic list}}
* ''The Monetary Approach to the Balance of Payments and the Exchange Rate: an Empirical Study of Japan's Case'' (1980)
* 図說日本銀行 (1993)
* ''Financial Market Globalization: Present and Future'' (1997)
* ''The Asset Price Bubble and Monetary Policy: Japan's Experience in the Late 1980s and the Lessons'' (2000)
* "One Year Under Quantitative Easing" (2002)
* ''Japan's Deflation, Problems in the Financial System and Monetary Policy'' (2005)
* ''De-leveraging and Growth: Is the Developed World Following Japan's Long and Winding Road?'' (2012)
* ''Tumultuous Times: Central Banking in an Era of Crisis'' (2021)

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080415091705/http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/list/pb_member/shirakawa.htm Deputy Governor] Bank of Japan retrieved April 8, 2008
*[https://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUST13915520080408 Highlights 4-Remarks by BOJ nominees Shirakawa and Watanabe] Reuters retrieved April 8, 2008
*[http://www3.nhk.or.jp/knews/t10013432781000.html 白川・渡辺両氏から所信聴取]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} NHK retrieved April 8, 2008
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080411011744/http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/policy/080407/plc0804072220013-n1.htm 小沢氏に振り回される福田首相　日銀人事めぐり (1/2ページ) – MSN産経ニュース] MSN Sankei News retrieved April 8, 2008
*[http://www.jiji.com/jc/p?id=20080408104807-6092880 白川日銀総裁の同意決定へ＝民主 | 時事ドットコム] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421032325/http://www.jiji.com/jc/p?id=20080408104807-6092880 |date=2015-04-21 }} Jiji Press retrieved April 8, 2008
*[http://www.japansociety.org/content.cfm?page=webcast_detail&eid=3bbad4d2 (webcast only) The Way out of Economic and Financial Crisis: Lessons and Actions] Masaaki Shirakawa addresses the current global economic crisis and offer lessons from Japan’s recent experience.

{{S-start}}
{{S-gov}}
{{Succession box|
before=Toshihiko Fukui|
title=Governor of the Bank of Japan|
after= Haruhiko Kuroda|
years=2008–2013}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirakawa, Masaaki}}