Lifetime employment is one of the most conspicuous features of contemporary large Japanese corporations. The employment practices of merchant houses in the Edo period (1603-1868) are sometimes proposed as one origin of such lifetime commitment. Little attention has been paid, however, to the...

Issues of bonds increased in inter-war Japan, the main investors in bonds being banks because demand for loans declined in this period. Banks that were more tolerant of risks (that is, whose capital ratio was higher) made a larger amount of loans, which were riskier than bonds. While national...