In this book, Takeo Hoshi and Anil Kashyap examine the history of the Japanese financial system, from its nineteenth-century beginnings through the collapse of the 1990s that concluded with sweeping reforms. Combining financial theory with new data and original case studies, they show why the Japanese financial system developed as it did and how its history affects its ongoing evolution. The authors describe four major periods within Japan's financial history and speculate on the fifth, into which Japan is now moving. Throughout, they focus on four questions: How do households hold their savings? How is business financing provided? What range of services do banks provide? And what is the nature and extent of bank involvement in the management of firms? The answers provide a framework for analyzing the history of the past 150 years, as well as implications of the just-completed reforms known as the "Japanese Big Bang." Hoshi and Kashyap show that the largely successful era of bank dominance in postwar Japan is over, largely because deregulation has exposed the banks to competition from capital markets and foreign competitors. The banks are destined to shrink as households change their savings patterns and their customers continue to migrate to new funding sources. Securities markets are set to re-emerge as central to corporate finance and governance.

This book explores the linkages between the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financing and governance in Japan since the late 2000s. Since the 1990s, increasing economic and financial globalization has steadily eroded the Japanese style of business based on relationships and influenced the awareness and practices of CSR that are unique to Japanese companies. In Japan’s two “lost decades” after the bubble economy, the business model and corporate financing seem to have continued a gradual financial reform toward a more market-oriented system. CSR awareness and practices of Japanese companies have been influenced by social and environmental issues that global society and communities face. Furthermore, the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 triggered increasing attention paid to the responsibility of business toward society. In this process, major players in corporate governance and components of governance structure have continued to change. The conventional view of Japanese corporate governance and corporate finance is too narrow to understand this field in Japan. This book is based on empirical research to investigate how multifaceted CSR has aligned with business and finance and has influenced the corporate governance structure of Japanese companies. The findings and discussions in this book act are stepping stones in further research on the linkages between business and society, and provide empirical evidence on changes in Japanese corporate finance and governance.

Debates regarding corporate governance have become increasingly important in Japan as the post-war model of bank-based, stakeholder-oriented corporate governance faces the new pressures associated with globalization and growing investor demands for shareholder value. Bringing together a group of leading scholars from economics, law, sociology and management studies, this book looks at how the Japanese approach to corporate governance and the firm have changed in the post-bubble era. The contributions offer a unique empirical exploration of why and how Japanese firms are reshaping their corporate governance arrangements, leading to greater diversity among firms and new 'hybrid' forms of corporate governance. The book concludes by looking at what effect these incremental but transformative changes may have on Japan's distinctive variety of capitalism.

In this book, Takeo Hoshi and Anil Kashyap examine the history of the Japanese financial system, from its nineteenth-century beginnings through the collapse of the 1990s that concluded with sweeping reforms. Combining financial theory with new data and original case studies, they show why the Japanese financial system developed as it did and how its history affects its ongoing evolution. The authors describe four major periods within Japan's financial history and speculate on the fifth, into which Japan is now moving. Throughout, they focus on four questions: How do households hold their savings? How is business financing provided? What range of services do banks provide? And what is the nature and extent of bank involvement in the management of firms? The answers provide a framework for analyzing the history of the past 150 years, as well as implications of the just-completed reforms known as the "Japanese Big Bang." Hoshi and Kashyap show that the largely successful era of bank dominance in postwar Japan is over, largely because deregulation has exposed the banks to competition from capital markets and foreign competitors. The banks are destined to shrink as households change their savings patterns and their customers continue to migrate to new funding sources. Securities markets are set to re-emerge as central to corporate finance and governance.

The Japanese Economy, 4th Edition is for anyone curious about economics, for it is impossible to appreciate economics without vivid examples of its application. This book is also for anyone broadly interested in Japan, for it is impossible to fully understand Japan without learning what basic economics has to say about it, which is much. To know Japan - or any country for that matter - is more than an ability to recite a litany of facts about its history, geography, institutions, and culture. Disciplined thinking is needed to organize the disparate facts into a coherent system that can be grasped whole. Modern economics is the academic discipline underlying this book. The book uses economics and explains it, but without presuming the reader has any prior knowledge of it. The main object of interest is Japan. It starts with Japan's economic history since the late sixteenth century through the twentieth century. It then addresses contemporary topics in Japan's economy, beginning with ones that require an economy - wide perspective - economic growth and the business cycle, exchange rates, and the balance of trade. The discussion then moves on to sectors of the economy: the public sector, industry and trade, the financial system, the labor market, and more. The chapters can be read in any order, but four threads run through all the chapters and link them: Japan's economic growth and development, Japan's integration with the world economy, government policies and their effects, and peculiar economic institutions and practices.

This book carefully examines the effects of changes in the corporate governance structure on corporate behavior or company performance, using micro-data from listed companies in Japan. The author found that in Japan the introduction of stock options had neither a positive impact on profitability nor the negative side effects of promoting risk-taking behaviors. Furthermore, he found that corporate diversification and division of corporations showed negative impacts on profitability. The corporate governance structure of Japan has exhibited a large change from the second half of the 1990s to the present. There have been institutional reforms involving enterprise law, such as the introduction of stock options and the removal of the ban on holding companies. With respect to the ownership structure of a company, discernible trends are that the equity holdings of financial institutions and business corporations have fallen while the presence of foreign stockholders has risen. These trends are often pointed out as signs that the Japanese corporate governance structure has been approaching the American model and that this will energize Japanese firms. The author contradicts common academic theories, however, and concludes that the formation of the corporate governance which emphasizes the agency problem between shareholders and corporate managers is inadequate. He suggests that an institutional arrangement for a corporate governance system that values a variety of stakeholders' interests is greatly needed and concludes that perspectives on maximizing surplus values for various stakeholders and distributing the surpluses appropriately among the stakeholders will become increasingly important for the purpose of managing corporations.

September 2001 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Treaty, formally ending the Second World War. In signing this treaty, Japan fundamentally transformed its position on the world stage. It established itself in the vanguard of the burgeoning cold war bulwark against the Soviet Union and its communist satellites, and wed itself to the United States through economic, political, and security ties that persist today. The half century since the establishment of the San Francisco system has seen highs and lows in the relations between the two countries, continuing even into the current war on terrorism. This new book evaluates the changing relationship between the two great powers, providing in-depth analysis on a variety of topics. It scrutinizes the historical context, providing the reader with predictive tools for understanding events as they unfold. Instead of looking at the U.S.-Japan relationship one issue at a time, this book examines specific trends and then analyzes how these trends affect the relationship as a whole. This innovative approach allows the reader to view several perspectives simultaneously, and it compels the contributors to assemble clear causal arguments that detail what each factor can and cannot explain. The result is a cogent and convincing appraisal of the status and future of U.S.-Japan relations after fifty years of peaceful coexistence.

A thorough introduction to corporate finance from a renowned professor of finance and banking As globalization redefines the field of corporate finance, international and domestic finance have become almost inseparably intertwined. It's increasingly difficult to understand what is happening in capital markets without a firm grasp of currency markets, the investment strategies of sovereign wealth funds, carry trade, and foreign exchange derivatives products. International Corporate Finance offers thorough coverage of the international monetary climate, including Islamic finance, Asian banking, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, the book offers keen insight on global capital markets, equity markets, and bond markets, as well as foreign exchange risk management and how to forecast exchange rates. Offers a comprehensive discussion of the current state of international corporate finance Provides simple rules and pragmatic answers to key managerial questions and issues Includes case studies and real-world decision-making situations For anyone who wants to understand how finance works in today's hyper-connected global economy, International Corporate Finance is an insightful, practical guide to this complex subject.

For much of the past half-century, Japan's economic success has stimulated the interest of scholars from around the world. In the last decade, and particularly in the last two years, however, it is Japan's economic difficulties which have attracted the most attention. The very institutionswhose efficacy was earlier praised are now often criticised as being the core of Japan's economic problems.This volume brings together the research of many of the world's leading specialists on the Japanese economy to assess how Japan's distinctive economic institutions have operated in the past and how their evolution in the face of changing domestic and international circumstance s will shape theprospects for the Japanese economy in the 21st century. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of Japan's financial system and the changing character of Japanese firm governance, and to the changing role that government and the legal system play in Japan's economy. The authors find among manyother important conclusions that far-reaching regulatory reform will be needed so that a new rules-based system allowing greater scope for dispersed private initiative can emerge to restructure and regrow the Japanese economy.

A thorough introduction to corporate finance from a renowned professor of finance and banking As globalization redefines the field of corporate finance, international and domestic finance have become almost inseparably intertwined. It's increasingly difficult to understand what is happening in capital markets without a firm grasp of currency markets, the investment strategies of sovereign wealth funds, carry trade, and foreign exchange derivatives products. International Corporate Finance offers thorough coverage of the international monetary climate, including Islamic finance, Asian banking, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, the book offers keen insight on global capital markets, equity markets, and bond markets, as well as foreign exchange risk management and how to forecast exchange rates. Offers a comprehensive discussion of the current state of international corporate finance Provides simple rules and pragmatic answers to key managerial questions and issues Includes case studies and real-world decision-making situations For anyone who wants to understand how finance works in today's hyper-connected global economy, International Corporate Finance is an insightful, practical guide to this complex subject.