This paper examines the effectiveness of Japans Emergency Credit Guarantee (ECG) program set up during the financial turmoil following the failure of Lehman Brothers, in increasing credit availability and improving the ex-post performance of small businesses. In particular, using a unique...

Financial factors and ownership structure are both part of the determinants of corporate R&D investment. Considering listed firms in the R&D intensive industries during the 2000s, this paper examines whether financial factors and ownership structure explain R&D investment in Japan. Following the...

This paper examines the ex-post performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that obtained small business credit scoring (SBCS) loans. Using a unique Japanese firm-bank matched dataset, we identify whether an SME has obtained an SBCS loan and, if so, from which type of bank: a...

This paper investigates the causal relationship between firms' bank dependence and financial constraints by utilizing the 2008 financial crisis and its impact on the Japanese economy as a natural experiment. Since the Japanese banking sector remained healthy while the corporate bond markets were...