This paper studies the Japanese credit scoring market using data on 2,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and a small business credit scoring (SBCS) model widely used in the market. After constructing a model for determining a bank's profit maximization, some simulation exercises are...

Economists have used various financial economic indicators to forecast economic activity. For example, the information contained in the term structure of interest rates has long been regarded as useful for predicting future economic activity. And recently, this topic has received renewed...

We document the determinants of the expectation heterogeneity of stock price forecasters on TOPIX. Monthly panel data collected by QUICK Corporation in the Nikkei Group via surveys is utilized in the process. We examine the determinants of expectation heterogeneity by categorizing our sample...

In this paper, we construct a two-country business cycle accounting model in order to investigate quantitatively the relationship between Japan and the Asian Tigers. Our model is based on Backus, Kehoe and Kydland (1994) in which each economy produces tradable intermediate goods that are...

This paper examines the ex-post performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that obtained small business credit scoring (SBCS) loans, using a unique Japanese firm–bank matched dataset. The ex-post probability of default after the SBCS loan was provided significantly increased for SMEs...

We examine the properties of house price fluctuations across eighteen advanced economies over the past forty years. We ask two specific questions: First, how synchronized are housing cycles across these countries? Second, what are the main shocks driving movements in global house prices? To...

The BOJ recently announced its intention to purchase asset backed securities (ABS) whose underlying assets are closely related to SME economic activities. One important motivation for this policy arises from the idea that utilizing modern financial tools, i.e., securitization, can be a possible...