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The Fable of the Keiretsu

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Author Info
Yoshiro Miwa
J. Mark Ramseyer

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Abstract

Central to so many accounts of post-war Japan, the keiretsu corporate groups lacked economic substance from the start. Conceived by Marxists committed to locating "domination" by "monopoly capital," they found an early audience among western scholars searching for evidence of culture-specific group behavior in Japan. By the 1990s, they had moved into mainstream economic studies, and keiretsu dummies appeared in virtually all econometric regressions of Japanese industrial or financial structure. Yet the keiretsu began as a figment of the academic imagination, and they remain that today. Regardless of the keiretsu definition used, cross-shareholdings within the "groups" were trivial, even during the years when keiretsu ties were supposedly strongest. Neither does membership proxy for "main bank" ties. Econometric studies basing "keiretsu dummies" on the available rosters produce predictably haphazard and unstable results. In the end, the only reliably robust results are the artifacts of the sample biases created by the definitions themselves. Copyright (c) 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Article provided by Blackwell Publishing in its journal Journal of Economics & Management Strategy.

Volume (Year): 11 (2002)
Issue (Month): 2 (06)
Pages: 169-224
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Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:11:y:2002:i:2:p:169-224

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References listed on IDEAS
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  15. Kang, Jun-Koo & Shivdasani, Anil, 1995. "Firm performance, corporate governance, and top executive turnover in Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 29-58, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  17. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2001. "Does Ownership Matter? Evidence from the Zaibatsu Dissolution Program," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-105, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Kang, Jun-Koo & Shivdasani, Anil, 1997. "Corporate restructuring during performance declines in Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 29-65, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Fumio Hayashi, 1997. "The Main Bank System and Corporate Investment: An Empirical Reassessment," NBER Working Papers 6172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Weinstein, David E & Yafeh, Yishay, 1995. "Japan's Corporate Groups: Collusion or Competitive? An Empirical Investigation of Keiretsu Behavior," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(4), pages 359-76, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Fukuda, Atsuo & Hirota, Shinichi, 1996. "Main Bank Relationships and Capital Structure in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 250-261, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2000. "Rethinking Relationship-Specific Investments: Subcontracting in the Japanese Automobile Industry," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-70, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  27. Sheard, Paul, 1989. "The main bank system and corporate monitoring and control in Japan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 399-422, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Hayashi, Fumio & Inoue, Tohru, 1991. "The Relation between Firm Growth and Q with Multiple Capital Goods: Theory and Evidence from Panel Data on Japanese Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 731-53, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  29. Saxonhouse, Gary R, 1993. "What Does Japanese Trade Structure Tell Us about Japanese Trade Policy?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 21-43, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. David E. Weinstein & Yishay Yafeh, 1998. "On the Costs of a Bank-Centered Financial System: Evidence from the Changing Main Bank Relations in Japan," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(2), pages 635-672, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2001. "Does Ownership Matter? Evidence from the Zaibatsu Dissolution Program," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-105, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Larry D. Wall & Alan K. Reichert & Hsin-Yu Liang, 2008. "The final frontier : the integration of banking and commerce. Part 1, the likely outcome of eliminating the barrier," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
  3. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2004. "Deregulation and Market Response in Contemporary Japan: Administrative Guidance, Keiretsu, and Main Banks," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-267, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  4. Takehiko Isobe & Shige Makino & Anthony Goerzen, 2006. "Japanese horizontal keiretsu and the performance implications of membership," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 453-466, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Takehiko Isobe & Shige Makino & Anthony Goerzen, 2006. "Japanese Horizontal Keiretsu and the Performance Implications of Membership," Discussion Paper Series 190, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jean McGuire & Sandra Dow, 2009. "Japanese keiretsu: Past, present, future," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 333-351, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Kenji Ketsuna & Janet Kiholm Smith & Richard L. Smith, 2003. "Banking Relationships and Access to Equity Capital Markets: Evidence from Japan’s Main Bank System," Claremont Colleges Working Papers 2003-09, Claremont Colleges. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Naohito Abe & Taehun Jung, 2004. "Cross-Shareholdings, Outside Directors, and Managerial Turnover: The Case of Japan," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d04-38, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  9. Bruce Blonigen, 2005. "A Review of the Empirical Literature on FDI Determinants," Atlantic Economic Journal, International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 383-403, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Hideaki Sakawa & Naoki Watanabel, 2009. "Managerial Compensation, Corporate Governance, and Business Performance in Japan: Evidence Using New Micro Data," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd08-031, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  11. Bruce A. Blonigen, 2005. "A Review of the Empirical Literature on FDI Determinants," NBER Working Papers 11299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2005. "The Good Occupation," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-340, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  13. Joe Peek & Eric S. Rosengren, 2003. "Unnatural Selection: Perverse Incentives and the Misallocation of Credit in Japan," NBER Working Papers 9643, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2001. "Directed Credit? Capital Market Competition in High-Growth Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-132, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  15. John Armour & B.R. Cheffins & D.A. Skeel Jr., 2002. "Corporate Ownership Structure and the Evolution of Bankruptcy Law in the US and UK," ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers wp226, ESRC Centre for Business Research. [Downloadable!]
  16. Leslie Hannah, 2007. "Pioneering Modern Corporate Governance: a View from London in 1900," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-487, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  17. Dennis Mueller, 2006. "Corporate Governance and Economic Performance," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 623-643, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2001. "The Myth of the Main Bank: Japan and Comparative Corporate Governance," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-131, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  19. Kyoji Fukao & Kiyohiko Nishimura & Qing-Yuan Sui & Masayo Tomiyama, 2005. "Japanese Banks’ monitoring activities and the performance of borrower firms: 1981–1996," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 337-362, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2003. "Does Relationship Banking Matter? Japanese Bank-Borrower Ties in Good Times and Bad," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-239, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  21. Yishay Yafeh, 2002. "An International Perspective of Japan's Corporate Groups and their Prospects," NBER Working Papers 9386, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Bruce A. Blonigen & Christopher J. Ellis & Dietrich Fausten, 2003. "Industrial groupings and foreign direct investment," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2003-19, University of Oregon Economics Department, revised 01 Mar 2003. [Downloadable!]
  23. Anderson, Evelyn, 2004. "The Keiretsu Fable - Where does the Truth Lie?," MPRA Paper 8112, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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