This chapter contrasts the effects of main bank–firm ties on the performance of firms in the changing economic environment of the Japanese financial system. The dual stake of the main bank as stockholder and creditor has a positive effect on stock returns in the growth period, but a negative...

We propose that regulation increases the demand for industry-expert auditors. We hypothesize that this increase in demand will be reflected in the degree of reliance investors place on financial information certified by industry-expert auditors. We evaluate the return-earnings relation for...

This paper examines the association between institutional ownership and income smoothing through bank loan loss provisions for a sample of Japanese banks during the period 1991-1999. We find that as the percentage of institutional ownership of banks increases, income smoothing via loan loss...