This paper examines the ownership structure of listed Thai firms in 1996. The ownership structure is concentrated. In 82.59 percent of the firms in the sample, the largest shareholders are also controlling shareholders. The controlling shareholders are mainly families. Foreign investors form the...

This paper investigates the mechanisms that firms use to get state favors. We focus on a less well studied but common mechanism: business owners seeking election to top office. Using Thailand as a research setting, we find that business owners who rely on government concessions or are wealthier...

The allocation of credit by banks on 'soft' terms to friends and relatives - often termed cronyism - rather than on the basis of 'hard' market criteria in the years leading up to the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 has been hypothesized as an important cause of the crisis. These practices had...

We investigate the cause of this banking crisis that has jeopardized the stability of the financial and economic system since the 1990s. Following Hanazaki and Horiuchi (2001), we argue that the deficiency of effective corporate governance of banks in Japan has caused inefficient management. Our...

The allocation of credit by banks and financial institutions on 'soft' terms to friends and relatives rather than on the basis of 'hard' market criteria in the years leading up to the East Asian crisis of 1997-98 has been widely noted. Using a detailed dataset on Thai firms prior to the crisis...

This paper presents analysis of the implicit subsidies and repayment hardships of Thailand’s Student Loan Fund (SLF). Comparisons are made between the current SLF with alternative similar schemes, assuming different rates of interest and loan repayment periods. We find that the implicit...

Predicting corporate distress can have a significant impact on the economy because it serves as an efficient early warning signal. This study develops distress prediction models incorporating both governance and financial variables and examines the impact of major corporate governance...

Thailand was at the origin of the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Our research seeks to understand what economic and political factors contributed to the collapses of Thailand's financial institutions during the crisis. The distinctive feature of our model is that it incorporates variables for...