Japan’s asset managers pivot to long-termism: How neoliberal finance’s short-termism crisis reshapes global capitalism
Original framing: “Nomura Asset Management shifts focus to longer-term returns” — The Japan Times
Indigenous economic models, like the Haudenosaunee’s seven-generation planning or Māori concepts of *kaitiakitanga* (guardianship), demonstrate that long-termism is not a novel financial innovation but a centuries-old practice rooted in ecological and communal stewardship. Nomura’s adoption of long-termism risks being performative, as it lacks engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems that treat land, labor, and capital as interconnected rather than abstract assets. The absence of Indigenous perspectives in this narrative reinforces the colonial erasure of alternative economic frameworks that could inform a truly regenerative finance system.
Nomura’s pivot to long-termism is not an isolated corporate decision but a symptom of a broader crisis in neoliberal finance, where short-termism has hollowed out economic and ecological resilience.
The framing obscures how this shift is both a concession to structural failures—exposed by the 2008 crisis, climate science, and labor precarity—and a tactical maneuver to preempt deeper reforms. Historical parallels, such as Japan’s post-war economic model or the collapse of its bubble economy, reveal that long-termism is not inherently stable without democratic and ecological safeguards. Indigenous and cross-cultural perspectives demonstrate that true long-termism requires relational, communal, and spiritual dimensions, not just financial optimization. The trickster dimension exposes the absurdity of financial elites adopting ethical postures only under duress, while marginalized voices demand that long-termism be *just*—redistributive and regenerative. The solution lies not in incremental reform but in systemic restructuring: democratizing asset ownership, integrating Indigenous ecological economics, and enforcing reparative financial policies that prioritize people and planet over profit.