This paper investigates the efficiency of the Japanese distribution system, measured by the distribution margin. Most of the discussions on the Japanese distribution system have so far relied on institutional descriptions and anecdotal evidence, failing to substantiate the case. The present...

Standard theories of corporate ownership assume that because markets are efficient, insiders ultimately bear agency costs and therefore have a strong incentive to minimize conflicts of interest with outside investors. We show that if equity is overvalued, however, mispricing offsets agency costs...

Preface -- Chapter 1. A Preliminary Introduction -- Chapter 2. Puzzles of the Monetary Regime in Premodern China -- Chapter 3. The Divergence between China and Japan -- Chapter 4. The Worst Currency or The Best Arrangement? -- Chapter 5. An Epilogue -- Index.

Why was the Industrial Revolution successful at generating sustained growth? Some have argued that there was a fundamental change in the way that new technology was developed during this period, but evidence for this argument remains largely anecdotal. This paper provides direct quantitative...

Chapter 1. The Land They Found -- Chapter 2. Adapting to a New World -- Chapter 3. Colonial Latin America -- Chapter 4. The First Century of Independence -- Chapter 5. Industrialization -- Chapter 6. Alternatives -- Chapter 7. The Commodity Boom of the 1970s -- Chapter 8. The Lost Decade of the...

Introduction: Takahashi Korekiyo, the Man Who Brought Japan Out of the Great Depression -- Japan’s Plunge into and Emergence from the Great Depression -- Policy Innovation in the Great Depression -- Sustainability of Public Debt under Stress -- Origins of the Economic Ideas of Takahashi...

Chapter 1 Reinsurance in America Regulatory Regimes and Markets -- Chapter 2 Dutch reinsurance and the first wave of globalization -- Chapter 3 Swedish Reinsurers in the Non-Life Sector -- Chapter 4 The ups and downs of French reinsurance in the 20th century -- Chapter 5 The ups and downs of...

Chapter 1: Introduction Civilization and Lived Experience -- Part 1: The Quests that Created a New Western Civilization (and Destroyed Others): Crops, Climate, Calories -- Chapter 2: The 3-Cs: Crops, Climate, Calories -- Chapter 3: Crops and the Shaping of Civilizations -- Chapter 4: Climate:...