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The Myth of the Main Bank: Japan and Comparative Corporate Governance

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Author Info
Yoshiro Miwa (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)
J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law School)

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Abstract

In this essay on Masahiko Aoki's recent study of Japanese corporate governance, we argue that he and others misdescribe Japan on several fundamental dimensions. First, Japanese firms and employees choose neither to arrange implicit life-time employment contracts nor to invest heavily in firm-specific skills. Instead, firms keep employees employed during economic downturns only because interventionist courts do not let them lay their employees off. Second, Japanese firms do not organize themselves into keiretsu corporate groups, do not exchange shares with other alleged group members, and do not necessarily use the money-center bank attributed to the group as their "main bank." Last, Japanese "main banks" neither agree in advance to rescue troubled debtors nor monitor firms on behalf of other creditors.

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Paper provided by CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo in its series CIRJE F-Series with number CIRJE-F-131.

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Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2001
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Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2001cf131

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  4. Sheard Paul, 1994. "Reciprocal Delegated Monitoring in the Japanese Main Bank System," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Prowse, Stephen D., 1990. "Institutional investment patterns and corporate financial behavior in the United States and Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 43-66, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1989. "Corporate structure, liquidity, and investment: evidence from Japanese industrial groups," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 82, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  11. 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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  12. 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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  15. 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!]
  16. Randall Morck & Masao Nakamura, 1999. "Banks and Corporate Control in Japan," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(1), pages 319-339, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Miwa, Yoshiro & Ramseyer, J Mark, 2002. "Banks and Economic Growth: Implications from Japanese History," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 127-64, April.
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  19. Liebowitz, S J & Margolis, Stephen E, 1990. "The Fable of the Keys," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, April.
  20. Horiuchi, Akiyoshi & Packer, Frank & Fukuda, Shinichi, 1988. "What role has the "Main Bank" played in Japan?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 159-180, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(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. 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:
  2. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2003. "Conflicts of Interest in Japanese Insolvencies: The Problem of Bank Rescues," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-240, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  3. 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!]
  4. 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)
  5. 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!]
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