Firm Growth in Prewar Japan

Industrial Development, Firm Dynamics and Patterns of Productivity Growth: The Case of the Cotton-spinning Industry in Prewar Japan, 1894-1924

This paper explores the relationship between patterns of productivity growth and the development stage of an industry, using firm-level data on the cotton-spinning industry in Japan in the late-nineteenth century. It is found that patterns of productivity growth depend on the development stage of the industry. In the earlier stage of industrial development, the productivity growth of each firm,...

Firm Innovativeness in Smes: Lessons from Japan

Fostering greater firm innovativeness may just be the most critical advantage organisations must develop to effectively compete in the markets of not only today, but those of tomorrow as well. The connection between volatile and dynamic environments and the need for firms to be more innovative is oft made, and Japan in particular has faced trying conditions, experiencing perhaps the most prolon...

Bond underwriting syndicates organized by commercial banks: evidence from prewar Japan

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the nature of bond underwriting syndicates organized by commercial banks. I use a unique data set from Japan during a prewar period when banks were permitted to underwrite corporate bonds. The paper shows that risk aversion led to a greater tendency for investment houses to form a syndicate than commercial banks. The evidence is consistent wit...

Environmental Policies and Firm-level Management Practices in Japan

High birth weights in prewar Faroe Islands.

Birth weights in the Faroe Islands are among the highest in the world. During the 1980s, infants born there had 200 grams higher mean birth weight than their Danish peers. Half of this diVerence could be attributed to a longer gestation (four days on average), half to a higher fetal growth rate. A high intake of seafood has been suggested to be a possible cause of this pattern. The findings of ...