Zombie firms and economic stagnation in Japan |
| |
Authors: | Alan G Ahearne Naoki Shinada |
| |
Institution: | (1) Division of International Finance, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Mailstop 23, 20th and C Streets NW, Washington DC, USA;(2) Development Bank of Japan, 1-9-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | It is often claimed that one contributing factor to Japan's weak economic performance over the past decade is that Japanese
banks have continued to provide financial support for highly inefficient, debt-ridden companies, commonly referred to as ‘zombie’
firms. Such poor banking practices in turn prevent more productive companies from gaining market share, strangling a potentially
important source of productivity gains for the overall economy. To explore further the zombie-firm hypothesis, we use industry-
and firm-level Japanese data and find evidence that productivity growth is low in industries reputed to have heavy concentrations
of zombie firms. We also find that the reallocation of market share is going in the wrong direction in these industries, adding
to already weak productivity performance. In addition, we find evidence that financial support from Japanese banks may have
played a role in sustaining this perverse reallocation of market share.
|
| |
Keywords: | Productivity Banking system Creative destruction |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|