Japan can help us better understand one of the biggest puzzles facing the US economy

Chip Somodevilla/Getty A hotly debated topic on the US economy is the collapsed relationship between unemployment and inflation. The traditional Phillips curve purports that when unemployment falls, inflation should rise, since more workers with jobs will increase demand in a stronger economy and that should lift prices. But the USunemployment is at a 16-year low, and inflation is going nowhere. Larry Hatheway, the chief economist at GAM, an asset manager with about $130 billion, looks to Japan ...