[NeedMoreTea]

Yet Japan's current GDP is lower than that in 1995, and has only been over 1995 level in two years.

There was plenty of innovation, new methods, product launches and new companies during the great Depression, even in the peak year of decline, and in all countries affected.

GDP and GDP growth is a decidedly modern invention anyway.

[yorwba]

It's fundamentally meaningless to compare nominal GDP between different years because of changes in the value of money. The current GDP of Japan is only nominally less than in 1995 because the values are measured on different scales.

The Great Depression would have been a better example to use because even real GDP declined drastically.