This paper analyzes the privatization process of the Japanese Post Bank (JPB), the largest bank in the world. We report some evidence in favour of the "political view" of SOB's and argue that, before privatization, postal savings banks served as vehicles for politicians to reallocate funds in...

Since the beginning of the seventies, most OECD member countries have suffered from a substantial increase in measured unemployment rates. A notable exception is Japan, whose official unemployment rate is far below observed figures in other countries. This article examines the reasons why...