An International Perspective of Japan's Corporate Groups and their Prospects

Yishay Yafeh

No 9386, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on corporate groups in Japan and elsewhere, and offers a comparison of Japan's corporate groups with groups in other developed and developing countries. It then proceeds to examine the evolution of corporate groups in Japan since the mid-1970s. The main conclusions that emerge are that: 1. Empirical evidence on the economic roles of corporate groups in Japan is limited. 2. Japanese groups are, in some respects, quite similar to groups in other countries, but their risk and return characteristics differ substantially. 3. There is little to suggest that over the past thirty years groups have had a major impact on Japan's industrial structure. In view of these findings, and because there is no evidence that Japanese groups (unlike those in some other countries) enjoy any particular political clout, it is unlikely that corporate groups will constitute an impediment to structural change in Japan.

JEL-codes: G3 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-12
Note: CF EFG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Yishay Yafeh, 2003. "An International Perspective of Corporate Groups and Their Prospects," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 259-284 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w9386.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9386

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w9386

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().