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Headline
It’s too early to tell what this means for the outcome of the snap election Abe is expected to call. On the one hand, if the opposition were organized, they could exploit this as clear evidence of the hollowness of Abenomics as a recovery strategy.
Abstract
The big picture is that GDP in 2014, so far, remains worse than 1997. Not a single major forecaster predicted that GDP would drop in July-Sept. The consensus forecast was in the 2.2-2.5% range, depending on the survey.