Efficiency of Credit Allocation and Effectiveness of Government Credit Guarantees: Evidence from Japanese Small Businesses

This paper empirically examines the development of credit allocation amongst Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the relationship between credit allocation and economic efficiency. We first investigate whether the credit market is inefficient, in that the survival of underperforming firms force better-performing firms to exit the market. Secondly, we test whether government credit guarantee programs are beneficial. In other words, do these programs increase the funds available to SMEs, and, more importantly, do they significantly impact the profitability of program users? Using a pair of unique firm-level datasets, we come to two major conclusions. (1) The selection mechanism in the Japanese credit market is efficiency-improving in that lower quality firms with higher borrowing costs are more likely to default. (2) The massive credit guarantee program implemented by the Japanese government in the late 1990s did result in the increased availability of funds to SMEs, and to the greater profitability of creditworthy firms. Moreover, interest rates do not decrease among program users indicating that government interest payment subsidies are not attributed fully to borrowers.

D-branes in Melvin Background

In this paper we discuss D-branes in the Melvin background and its supersymmetric generalizations. In particular we determine the D-brane spectra in these backgrounds by constructing their boundary states explicitly, where some of the D-branes are supersymmetric. The results sensitively depend on whether the value of magnetic flux in the Melvin background is rational or irrational. For the rational case the D-branes are regarded as the generalizations of fractional D-branes in abelian orbifolds ${\bf C^n/Z_N}$ of type II or type 0 string theory. For the irrational case we found a very limited spectrum. Since the background includes the nontrivial H-flux, the D-branes will provide interesting examples from the viewpoint of the noncommutative geometry.Comment: Latex, 44 pages, 4 figures, v2: one figure added, position of figures moved, several points clarified, typos corrected and references adde

On the Supersymmetry of Non-BPS D-brane

In this paper we extend the boundary string field theory action for a non-BPS D-brane to the one including the target space fermions and the nonlinear supersymmetry with 32 supercharges up to some order. This is based on the idea that the vacuum with a non-BPS D-brane belongs to the spontaneously broken phase of the supersymmetry. As a result, we find that the action is almost uniquely determined up to the field redefinition ambiguities.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Orbifolds as Melvin Geometry

In this paper we explicitly show that the various noncompact abelian orbifolds are realized as special limits of parameters in type II (NSNS) Melvin background and its higher dimensional generalizations. As a result the supersymmetric ALE spaces (A-type C^2/Z_N) and nonsupersymmetric orbifolds in type II and type 0 theory are all connected with each other by the exactly marginal deformation. Our results provide new examples of the duality between type II and type 0 string theory. We also discuss the decay of unstable backgrounds in this model which include closed string tachyons.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, 2 figures, references added, minor correction

Brane-Antibrane Action from Boundary String Field Theory

In this paper we give the boundary string field theory description of brane-antibrane systems. From the world-sheet action of brane-antibrane systems we obtain the tachyon potential and discuss the tachyon condensation exactly. We also find the world-volume action including the gauge fields. Moreover we determine RR-couplings exactly for non-BPS branes and brane-antibranes. These couplings are written by superconnections and correspond to K^1(M) and K^0(M) for the non-BPS branes and brane-antibranes, respectively. We also show that Myers terms appear if we include the transverse scalars in the boundary sigma model action.Comment: 38 pages, LaTeX, no figures. minor corrections and clarification. references adde

Economic Conditions and Japanese Firm Financing

This paper investigates the role played by non-financial firms in Japanese corporate financing. We find that non-financial firms are an important source of credit for both small and large firms in Japan. We also document that adverse real and financial shocks have similar effects on small and large firm financing. The primary implication of our results is that credit from the non-financial private sector in Japan serves to lessen the adverse impact of real and financial shocks on the economy.Business Cycles

Top Executive Turnover in Japanese Non-listed Firms: Causes and Consequences

We examine the pattern of top executive turnover among small non-listed businesses in Japan using a unique panel data set of about 25,000 firms for 2001-2007 and find the following. First, the likelihood of a change in top executive among non-listed firms is independent of their ex-ante performance, especially when the firms are owned by the top executives themselves or by their relatives. Second, non-listed firms which experienced a top executive turnover saw an improvement in ex-post performance relative to firms without turnover. The extent of the improvement is similar between non-listed firms and listed firms. All of the above results indicate that underperforming non-listed firms do not face disciplinary pressure to replace their executive, but that once new top executives are in place, they exert high managerial effort and thus significantly improve their firm's profitability.

Quantum Subcritical Bubbles

We quantize subcritical bubbles which are formed in the weakly first order phase transition. We find that the typical size of the thermal fluctuation reduces in the quantum-statistical physics. We estimate the typical size and the amplitude of thermal fluctuations near the critical temperature in the electroweak phase transition using quantum statistical average. Furthermore based on our study, we give implication on the dynamics of phase transition.Comment: Latex file, 9pp, to be published in Progress of Theoretical Physic

Does the Expectation Hypothesis Hold at the Shortest End of the Term Structure?

This paper examines the predictability smile at the shortest end of the term structure. The existence of a predictability smile has been well documented: spreads between long rates and short rates are able to forecast subsequent movements in interest rates well, provided the horizon is three months or less or two years or more. The predictive power of the spread at the shortest maturities, however, has not been adequately investigated. This is a potential shortcoming of the existing literature as a projection of the predictability smile to the shorter maturities is not a guarantee that the expectations hypothesis holds. In Japan, a positive spread between the forward and the spot rates has insufficient predictive power for the future spot rate innovations, while a negative spread has near-perfect predictive ability. Further, we provide evidence that this result is not unique to Japan, as we find this "asymmetric predictability" to be a feature of the very short-term money markets of the U.S., U.K. and Italy.Term Structure, Predictability, Money Market