It has been argued that keiretsu affiliation among Japanese firms gives rise to more stable management practices which result in more stable but lower average profits for member firms relative to independent firms. Using financial market performance data, such as the volatility of share prices,...

This paper explores the usage of various industrial policy tools in Japan. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that a disproportionate amount of Japanese targeting occurred in low growth sectors and sectors with decreasing returns to scale. In addition, we find no evidence that...

Reports on the failure of central planning in Japan. Economic policies; Government intervention on industry; Protectionist measures; Development strategies; Promotion of the domestic development of industries; Government assistance to industry

Separations among workers in large Japanese firms, while rare until recently are quite costly. Such workers must re-enter another firm at a relatively low level along the tenure-earnings profile, or move to a smaller firm where the tenure-earnings profile is much flatter. In either case, in...

Korean exports to Japan are highly correlated to Japanese GDP growth. Given Japan's large fiscal deficit and debt, there is concern that future government austerity measures may cause a collapse in Korean exports to that country. After summarizing the magnitude of Japan's fiscal woes, we...

This paper is concerned with the nature of ownership, returns and corporate performance and investment behavior in the ‘post-bubble' environment surrounding Japanese firms. Market participants have feared that ‘unwinding' of cross-shareholding would have negative consequences for returns, on...

After a decade of sluggish economic growth in the 1990s, it remains an open question whether and how Japanese firms have restructured their operations, and whether these efforts have borne any fruit. Using a randomly selected sample of 300 firms from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we collect all...

This paper considers whether Japanese labor market data are consistent with the intertemporal substitution hypothesis. The Japanese labor market data are first tested for broad conformity with the hypothesis using the methodology of Ashenfelter and Card (1982). The results from this analysis are...