Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy of strong-arming the Bank of Japan into adopting an aggressive monetary easing policy has gotten a thumbs up from one of the world's best-known economists--Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University.

The aggressive easing and fiscal stimulus advocated by Mr. Abe are exactly what Japan needs in this age of "competitive currency devaluation," Prof. Stiglitz said Friday in an interview with media organizations in Tokyo. On Thursday, he met with Mr. Abe and conveyed support for his economic policies.

Prof. Stiglitz's approval of Mr. Abe's policies--known as "Abenomics"--is so strong he wants his own country to follow suit.

"What we really need in the U.S. is expansionary policies that Abenomics is bringing into Japan," he said, lamenting the political gridlock in Washington and the inability of the U.S. Congress to do much by way of economic stimulus.

Prof. Stiglitz is a leading figure in the liberal school of economics along with fellow Nobel laureate Paul Krugman of Princeton University. In January, Prof. Krugman praised Mr. Abe's coordinated fiscal-monetary push in his New York Times column. Many of Mr. Abe's economic advisors are under the influence of Prof. Stiglitz and his liberal school.