Payrolls are now rising by 1.8 percent, yet gross domestic product growth is red hot.

As a result, the firm recently lowered its estimates for gross domestic product growth to 2.5 percent this year and 2.8 percent in the next.

"We felt that analysts' estimates of earnings and gross domestic product growth were overstated."

A 10 percent appreciation of the yen, he said, decreases Japan's gross national product growth by a half percentage point.

The earlier period also parallels ours in that lower prices were accompanied by real gross domestic product growth and higher wages.

For 2005, it expects real gross domestic product growth of 2.3 percent to 5.3 percent.

In the 1960's the top tax rates on dividends and capital gains were very high, yet gross domestic product growth was strong.

Its real gross domestic product growth was 4 percent in 1990 and 7.8 percent in 1991.

The central bank said last week that it expected the bird flu epidemic to cut gross domestic product growth by 0.2 percent this year.

With annual gross domestic product growth of 13.45 percent over three decades since 1978, it is 3.5 percentage points higher than the national average.