Groups and information disclosure: Evidence on the Olson and Putnam Hypotheses in Japan

Eiji Yamamura ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: There is controversy between Putnam and Olson concerning the role of group. Putnam argued that small group makes a contribution to economic growth whereas Olson asserted that small group hampers the economic growth through rent-seeking behavior. Since the end of the 1990s in Japan, there has been a remarkable rise in the rate of enactment of public information-disclosure ordinances by local governments. This paper uses the panel data of Japan to compare the effects of Putnam-type horizontally structured groups and Olson-type vertically structured groups on government information disclosures. The Arellano-Bond type dynamic panel model is employed to control for unobserved fixed effects and endogeneity bias. The major findings are as follows: (1) the Putnam-type group has a positive influence on information disclosure; (2) the Olson-type group has a detrimental effect on information disclosure. These support not only Putnam hypothesis but also Olson Hypothesis. The characteristics of groups should be considered carefully when the influence of group is examined.

Keywords: Putnam; Olson; interest group; social capital; information-disclosure ordinance. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G38 P48 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-01-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Groups and information disclosure: evidence on the Olson and Putnam hypotheses in Japan (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:28101

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