Macroeconomic view: why U.S. in 2010 is similar to Japan in 2000

Figure 1 compares the current situation with economic growth in the US and the past of Japan in one simple graph. The productivity (output per hour), Ph, and GDP per capita, G, time series both normalized to their respective values in 1950. In Japan, these two curves intersect in 2000 and then deflation started. In the US, the G curve touched the Ph curve in 2010 and they have been evolving in sync since.