Twentieth century Japan provides a remarkable laboratory for examining how an externally imposed institutional and regulatory intervention affects the ownership of corporations. In the first half of the century, Japan had weak legal protection but strong institutional arrangements. The...

Considering that the ownership structure of Japanese corporations has changed dramatically in the 1990s, this paper address a series of questions related to these changes: Why is cross-shareholding, which has been in place for almost three decades, now beginning to unwind (and what are the...

Corporate ownership and financing in Japan in the 20th century are striking. In the first half of the 20th century equity markets were active in raising more than 50% of the external financing of Japanese companies. Ownership was dispersed both by the standards of other developed economies at...

Corporate culture does matter. Using data on mission statements of large Japanese firms, we show that corporate culture has a significant impact on corporate policies that determine employment, board, and financial structures. We provide evidence that strong-culture firms are more likely to...

The Japanese economy is in the midst of a major mergers and acquisitions wave for the first time in the postwar period. This article puts a spotlight on Japan's Mamp;A activity, which has surged since the end of 1999, and takes a look at the factors that have contributed to the surge, and its...

This paper compares the characteristics of Mamp;A in 1991-2005 across five countries: Japan, France, Germany, the UK and USA. We ask what factors explain the growth of Mamp;A markets across these countries, and what similarities and differences exist in the ways the Mamp;A market operates. We...