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How Strongly Do "Financing Constraints" Affect Firm Behavior? Japanese Corporate Investment since the Mid-1980s

Author

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  • Yoshiro Miwa

    (Professor, Faculty of Economics, Osaka Gakuin University, and Professor Emeritus of The University of Tokyo)

Abstract
Researches on Japanese corporate finance typically start from the premise that banks decisively affect corporate behavior. Crucial to this premise in the Japanese context are two claims: the strength of a firm's relationship with a specific bank (and the funds that the bank makes available to it) determines its financing constraints, and those constraints decisively condition the way it behaves. Using firm-level data from the Corporate Enterprise Annual Statistics, I ask whether financing constraints significantly affected corporate investment in land and other fixed assets. I refer to firms in the real-estate-related industries and for comparison the manufacturing industry, and examine their investments during 1983-2009. The data suggest two conclusions. First, financing constraints did not significantly affect medium and long-term investment in equipment. Second, most firms have not faced serious financing constraints during the decades since 1983. Many scholars argue that such constraints contributed both to the "Bubble" during the second half of 1980s and the following recession since the 1990s, the "Lost Two Decades". The data, however, show no evidence that financing constraints prevented firms from investing in real estate or other tangible fixed assets. These conclusions are consistent with those in other papers by Miwa, including Miwa [2011a]. They raise serious questions about the premises relating to Japanese financial markets that many scholars bring to their study of the Japanese economy. Investigating empirically the effectiveness of "financing constraints", they also have important implications for current research into macroeconomic fluctuations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoshiro Miwa, 2013. "How Strongly Do "Financing Constraints" Affect Firm Behavior? Japanese Corporate Investment since the Mid-1980s," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 9(1), pages 203-255, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:mof:journl:ppr020i
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoshiro Miwa, 2011. """Bad Loans", "Delayed Disposals", "Follow-on and Zombie Lending", and the Lost Two Decades": Lessons from the Japanese Experience?" (in Japanese)," CIRJE J-Series CIRJE-J-235, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    2. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    3. Miwa, Yoshiro & Ramseyer, J. Mark, 2006. "The Fable of the Keiretsu," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226532707, December.
    4. Yoshiro Miwa, 2012. "Are Japanese Firms Becoming More Independent from Their Banks?: Evidence from the Firm-Level Data of the "Corporate Enterprise Quarterly Statistics," 1994-2009," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 8(4), pages 415-452, August.
    5. Olivier Blanchard, 2009. "The State of Macro," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 209-228, May.
    6. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    7. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1991. "Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment: Evidence from Japanese Industrial Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 33-60.
    8. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap, 2004. "Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262582481, April.
    9. John H. Cochrane, 2011. "Presidential Address: Discount Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(4), pages 1047-1108, August.
    10. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2008. "The Implications of Trade Credit for Bank Monitoring: Suggestive Evidence from Japan," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 317-343, June.
    11. Miwa, Yoshiro & Ramseyer, J Mark, 2002. "Banks and Economic Growth: Implications from Japanese History," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 127-164, April.
    12. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & John Moore, 1997. "Credit Chains," Working Papers 1997-2, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    13. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2004. "Directed Credit? The Loan Market in High‐Growth Japan," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 171-205, March.
    14. Yoshiro Miwa, 1996. "Firms and Industrial Organization in Japan," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37146-0, March.
    15. Miwa Yoshiro, 2011. "Bubble" or "Boom"?: Investigation of the Japanese economy in the second-half of 1980s with the firm-level data from the "Corporate Enterprise Annual Statistics", as preparatio," CARF J-Series CARF-J-078, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    16. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
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