This paper empirically studies the impact of banks' efficiency on their client firms' export behavior. Our empirical analysis shows that the marginal impact of the total factor productivity (TFP) of cash-flow constrained firms to the extensive margin of exports increases as the efficiency of top...

This paper proposes one measure for the productivity of banks and studies how it affects the sensitivity of a client firm's capital investment with respect to investment opportunity. As a direct measure for the productivity of banks, we employ the risk-adjusted profit of an individual bank,...

This paper examines how firms' decision to start exporting is affected by the availability of information on export markets. Unlike existing studies which focus on information sharing among firms, we examine the information provided by firms' top lender banks (main banks). Specifically, using a...

This paper examines how firms’ decision to start exporting is affected by the availability of information on export markets. Unlike existing studies which focus on information sharing among firms, we are interested in the information provided by firms’ main bank. Specifically, using a unique...

This paper studies the quantitative impact of the efficiency of lender banks on their client firms' total factor productivity. By using the panel data for bank and firm characteristics including the efficiency of banks, we empirically establish the positive correlation between the growth and the...

This paper examines how Japanese firms' export decision is affected by the availability of information on export markets, focusing on whether the availability of such information has a different impact on the export decision between large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In...

This paper examines whether or not privatization of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) increases the probability of exporting, and, if so, what channels generate such effect. Using firm-level data for the Chinese manufacturing sector for the period 2000-2007, we find that privatization has a...

We investigate whether previous findings of only limited effects of investing abroad on the performance of parent firms can be explained by the aggregation of heterogeneous effects depending on the motive for foreign direct investment (FDI), sector, and location. Our results suggest, in line...

Using panel data on Japanese mothers, this paper estimates the impact of fertility on maternal labor supply using twins as an instrument for the total number of children. We find that having twins actually has a longer term positive impact on maternal labor force participation. To understand...

This paper investigates whether birth weight itself causes individuals' future life chances. By using a sample of twins in Japan and controlling for the potential effects of genes and family backgrounds, we examine the effect of birth weight on later educational and economic outcomes. The most...