The roles of closure and selloff in corporate restructuring

This paper compares the roles of closure and selloff in corporate restructuring, by examining 749 Japanese firms engaged in these two types of divestment activities in the 1990s and 1146 subsidiaries divested by these firms. For closure, we find that (1) divesting firms tend to be less profitable than non-divesting firm, (2) divested subsidiaries have characteristics suggestive of inefficiencies, and (3) divesting firms’ profitability improved after the closure, albeit slowly. The results suggest that firms employ closure mainly to discontinue inefficient operations. For selloff, in contrast, we find that (4) divesting firms are no less profitable than non-divesting firms, (5) divesting firms’ profitability did not change but their investment intensity increased substantially around the divestiture, and (6) divested subsidiaries had characteristics of high salability and separability. The results suggest that selloff is used to raise funds for the remaining parts of divesting firm. Overall, our results suggest that closure and selloff play heterogeneous roles in the restructuring of Japanese firms.     

中国十二大军工集团融资效率及融资冗余比较——基于旗下A股上市公司的实证数据

深入分析军工企业融资效率及融资冗余,有利于国防科技领域创新融资模式,优化融资结构.以十二大军工集团旗下上市公司的年报数据为实证依据,运用DEA-BCC模型测算2016—2018年融资效率及其变动情况,对融资冗余进行比较与分类.研究发现:十二大军工集团的融资效率持续上升,但处在融资有效前沿面的企业数量有限;不同军工集团融资效率存在明显差异且整体水平不高;高估融资需求及不合理的融资结构是制约融资效率的主要因素.当前阶段,仍需进一步健全资金投入政策、完善多元化市场融资机制、优化资金配置方式、实施具有国防特色的金融支持机制,确保战略性两用技术的研发与产业化.     

日、韩战略性贸易政策对中国的启示:以汽车工业为例

战略性贸易政策作为战后一种新兴的国际贸易理论,已被各国所认可,并接受其作为促进本国重点行业发展的手段。本文主要分析日、韩发展汽车工业的成功经验并结合中国汽车工业的实际情况,简述了我国在实施汽车工业的战略性贸易政策是应着重推行的几点措施。     

The evolution of a national banking market in pre-war Japan

This paper assesses banking market integration in Japan during the period 1889-1938 using annual data on loan rates and spreads between loan and deposit rates. Banks in prefectures further from the financial centers exhibited higher loan rates and greater spreads than banks closer to the center, however, distance effects diminished over time, suggesting that banking markets became increasingly integrated due to declines in transaction costs. Additionally, loan rates and spreads varied negatively with the intensity of local bank competition, consistent with the notion of market segmentation. We speculate that Japan’s anti-competitive banking regulation might have slowed the process of banking market integration.     

房地产行业上市公司收益对比实证研究

本文采用曼—惠特尼U检验对房地产上市公司的收益状况进行实证检验以检验房地产公司是否随房地产投资快速增长,并对检验结果进行原因分析。     

The residential demand for electricity in Japan: An examination using empirical panel analysis techniques

This paper examines the residential demand for electricity in Japan, excluding Okinawa-prefecture, from 1975 to 2005 as a function of the disposable income per household and the overall unit price of electricity for general consumers, by using the empirical panel analysis techniques of a panel unit root test, a panel cointegration test, and group-mean dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimators to determine whether or not each variable is stationary. This study's contribution is twofold. First, for a more accurate empirical economic analysis, it divides Japan into a number of regions so that the estimation of coefficients becomes more powerful due to the increased degree of freedom from the utilization of the panel data. Second, the study chose Japan for this analysis on the basis of discussions regarding the deregulation of the residential electric power supply that is scheduled for the near future. All variables—sales per household, price, and income per household—can be assumed to have a unit root and cointegration relationship. The results determine that the price effect is negative and elastic and that the income effect is inelastic. These results correspond to other such studies on developed countries that are significant economic powers.     

Demand for broad money and expenditure components in Japan: an empirical study

The main objective of the present study is to examine empirically the long-run relation of broad money demand and its determinants in Japan. In contrast with previous study, the present study considers various components of final expenditure demand as determinants that are final consumption goods, expenditure on investment goods and exports. Using quarterly data over the period 1973Q1–2000Q2, the results of the bounds test [J. Appl. Econ. 16 (2001) 289] indicate a stable long-run relationship between demand of real M2 and its determinants. The empirical results also highlight that different domestic demand components yields different effects on Japanese broad money demand behavior. The estimated unrestricted error-correction model appears to track the data well and the results have important policy implications.     

日本规制改革最新进展评析——基于PMR综合指数的观察

日本自20世纪80年代末起展开了规制改革,至今仍在不断推进之中。为了跟踪并考察规制改革绩效,从1998年开始,OECD建立起了PMR综合指标评价体系,以评估各国的规制改革状况。利用OECD(经合组织)的PMR指数观察日本规制改革的最新进展,结果发现:日本的规制改革已初见成效,但是改革的速度在放慢,其路径依赖和选择性改革的特征比较明显。     

TNC takeovers in Brazil: The uneven distribution of benefits in the market for firms

Control of the future stream of earnings is perhaps the most valuable component of returns to a transnational investment. As with other components, controlis subject to bargaining between TNCs and host governments. This paper argues that by leaving acquisitions (that is, the ‘market for firms’) unregulated, Brazil has inadvertantly surrendered some of its bargaining power to TNCs. The paper's first section uses cases to show how the market for firms in the electrical industry favours TNCs, particularly because of their market power in technology and finance markets. A second section analyses the overall effects of TNCs' acquisitions on market structure and ownership changes, and finds that takeovers by TNCs raise both the level of industrial concentration and denotionalization. Foreign control of the electrical industry rose from 66% in 1960 to 77% in 1974, almost all attribute to TNCs' acquisition policies. It is argued that Brazil could substantially raise its gains from TNC investments by instituting a merger review and prohibiting non-socially beneficial takeovers.     

An empirical analysis of market performance in the car industry

This article focuses on the determinants of market performance in the car industry. Trade and market patterns are studied using firm-level international data. Econometric models are developed and evaluated for a sample of firms from the major producing countries for the period 1970–1985. Among the factors responsible for the market shares of the different firms are international differences in unit labor costs, income levels, the European Community (EC) and locally based production scales, and transaction costs in the form of trade barriers.     

Bank dependence and financial constraints on investment: Evidence from the corporate bond market paralysis in Japan

This paper investigates whether firms are able to substitute bank loans for public debt when the latter become less available to firms. To do so, this paper utilizes the 2008 financial crisis and its impact on Japanese markets as a natural experiment. Because the Japanese banking sector remained functional while the corporate bond markets were paralyzed, the data from Japan during this period provide us with an ideal environment to examine this hypothesis. I specifically examined whether firms with large holdings of corporate bonds maturing in FY2008 were financially constrained, by comparing the changes in their capital investment expenditures and borrowing conditions with those of bank-dependent firms. The main empirical results indicate that (1) firms with large holdings of corporate bonds maturing in FY2008 did not reduce investment expenditures; (2) instead, they exhibited higher increments in bank loans; and (3) firms that maintained relatively close bank-firm relationships had greater access to bank loans with low borrowing costs. These findings demonstrate that Japanese firms were able to substitute bank loans for public debt during the crisis and imply that the Japanese banking sector worked efficiently to replace public debt markets during the crisis.     

The impact of innovation on export behavior： An empirical analysis of Lao garment firms

Research on the role of innovation as important factor for creating and maintaining competitiveness of nations and firms has long been popularized among scholars and policy makers. The impact of innovation on exporting has been investigated in many countries. However, this issue has paucity of research in the Lao PDR. This study empirically investigates whether or not innovation performed by Lao garment firms determines their exporting behaviors. Utilizing the Probit and Tobit regression to analyze the data from the recent survey of industrial cluster development of Lao garment industry in 2007, the empirical results show that innovation as measured directly by “new product” and “new production process” have positive impact not only on export probability but also export intensity in the case of Lao garment firms. This implies that Lao garment finns who become the innovators have high probability to be exporters. Moreover, among exporters who are innovators outperform non-innovators in terms of export intensity. In addition, this study also finds that Lao garment exporters enjoy more competitive advantage due to lower labor cost. The findings from this study have important policy implications regarding how the government can support Lao garment firms to be innovators in order to sustain export performance.     

An empirical examination of IPO underpricing in the Chinese A-share market

Research in the literature shows that initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stocks are systematically priced at a discount to their subsequent initial trading price. The large underpricing magnitude in the Chinese IPO market has attracted much attention. We consider three hypotheses that may explain the IPO underpricing in China. These are the winner's curse hypothesis, the ex ante uncertainty hypothesis and the signaling hypothesis. Among these hypotheses, the winner's curse hypothesis has not been tested in the Chinese market. Using IPO data for online fixed-price offerings from November 1995 to December 1998, our results show that the winner's curse hypothesis is the main reason for the high IPO underpricing in China. The signaling hypothesis is not empirically supported in the Chinese market during the sample period.     

The impact of highways on commodity prices: The price of butter in Japan

This study empirically investigates the effect of highway construction on retail prices of butter in Japan. We consider the relocation of butter producers owing to the development of highways. We observed that highway construction increased transportation speed; however, the average transportation time from the production site dramatically increased with the increase in transportation distance. This was because of the concentration of butter factories in limited regions. Consequently, on average, the increase in transportation time during 1966–1980 raised the price of butter by 3.3 %. Furthermore, while the increase in speed reduced the price by 2 %, the increase in transportation distance increased the price by 5.3 %.     

Foreign direct investment by Japanese firms and corporate governance: in relation to the monetary policies of China, Korea and Japan

Reflecting upon the lessons from the Asian currency crises, more attention is being paid to the importance of consolidation for the domestic financial and capital markets, as well as international cooperation to avoid disturbing factors from abroad, such as massive inflows of speculative capital. The aim of financial reforms being executed in the East Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea, and China, is to improve the managerial efficiency of the business corporations and financial institutions.Recently, foreign direct investment by Japanese firms in the rest of the East Asia has been recovering. However, the existence of a financial system to realize optimal corporate governance is indispensable for the enhancement of direct investment. Namely, it is necessary to improve corporate profitability, and to distribute the increment of such profits between the host and the investor countries, in order to boost the welfare of the respective citizens, notwithstanding the type of foreign direct investment.     

日本推动氢燃料电池汽车产业发展的机制研究

日本在实现经济社会发展全面绿色转型过程中,为突破本国资源匮乏限制的同时发挥其技术优势,高度重视氢燃料电池汽车产业的发展。日本通过中央政府的顶层设计明确氢燃料电池汽车产业战略发展目标,同时修订相关法律法规、推行中央财税激励与技术研发促进政策,引导氢燃料电池汽车产业发展;并通过建立中央与地方、地方政府之间沟通交流机制,地方政府因地制宜出台政策,促进地方氢燃料电池汽车产业能动性发展;再通过企业构建完整产业链促进应用落实,以及高校与科研院所的技术研究与人才培养,实现日本氢燃料电池汽车产业健康有序发展。中日两国氢燃料电池汽车产业在技术、市场、发展模式等领域存在极强的互补性,市场与技术共享、政府治理经验交流学习等方面合作前景广阔。日本氢燃料电池汽车产业发展的经验教训可为中国提供一些有益的启示和借鉴。     

Skills and changing comparative advantage: The case of Japan

Is the skill gap of net exports widening? This question is nontrivial for many industrial countries because, with the rapid growth of emerging countries, human capital is considered one of the most important sources of comparative advantage. Theoretically, however, the answer is not necessarily obvious because of changing comparative advantage. This paper attempts to answer this question by extending the analysis of Wolff (2003) and by focusing on one of the largest OECD countries, Japan, for the period 1980–2005. The results indicate that the answer to the above question may well be “no.” Although Japan is still a net exporter of skill-intensive goods, the skill gap of net exports has been narrowing since the mid-1990s, mainly as a result of the changes in the composition of trade. This implies that some OECD countries, including Japan, may have been losing their comparative advantage in skill-intensive goods in recent years.     

Financing consumption in an aging Japan: The role of foreign capital inflows and immigration

We project the impact of demographic change on Japanese capital flows by simulating the impact of population aging on Japanese saving and investment rates. As aging depresses saving rates, in our baseline projections, we show that by 2015, foreign capital inflows will comprise about 15 percent of Japanese output. A distinguishing feature of this paper is that we compare the capital flows that occur without immigration to the capital inflows that would occur with immigration of 400,000 people annually. With the larger labor force from immigration and the large induced capital accumulation, output will be 22 percent higher by 2020, and 50 percent higher by 2040. The higher output means that less capital needs to be imported; by 2015, Japan will be importing only 8 percent of its output. J. Japanese Int. Economies 18 (4) (2004) 506–527.     

Public investment and business cycles: The case of Japan

This paper examines the effect of public investment on macroeconomic fluctuations in Japan by comparing the effects of central and local government investments. Impulse response functions show that central government investments slightly but persistently stimulate industrial production, while local government investments have no positive impact on business cycles. In terms of policy effectiveness, these results suggest that the Japanese government should not employ local public sector investments as a policy instrument for economic stabilization.     

Exchange rates and European countries’ export prices: An empirical test for asymmetries in pricing to market behavior

Exchange Rates and European Countries’ Export Prices: An Empirical Test for Asymmetries in Pricing to Market Behavior. — This paper uses forward instead of spot exchange rates to test for the presence of asymmetries in the response of export prices to exchange rate movements on a wide sample of European Union exporter countries and highly disaggregated product categories. In most cases, the data give support to the hypothesis of a symmetric pricing to market behavior during periods of depreciation and appreciation of the exporter’s currency.