1,721,067 research outputs found
Commodity ETFs in the Japanese Stock Exchanges
Full text linkThe “Financial Big Bang” reforms during the latter half of the 1990s substantially transformed the Japanese financial system, but despite this, the level of risky assets that Japanese households have in their portfolio has not increased. One reason for this is the lack of knowledge necessary to invest in risky assets, such as stocks. Therefore, the Japanese government and financial industry have developed collective investment schemes such as investment trusts, which are an effective way to hold risky assets for retail investors who lack sophisticated investment knowledge. This paper analyzes commodity investment trusts and commodity ETFs as a method for investing in commodities.Commodity futures; ETF; Japan; Stock markets
What Types of Small and Medium-sized Businesses Are Utilizing New Financial Products?
Full text linkThe increased diversification of fund rising methods among small and medium-sized businesses has been a major policy challenge in recent years, and private financial institutions are proactively striving to disseminate new financial technologies. However, this does not necessarily mean that every small and medium-sized business benefits from such technologies. It is difficult to analyze this aspect based on ready-made data. Fortunately, this paper can analyze the current status and challenges of the utilization of new financial products among small and medium-sized businesses by using unique survey questionnaires (Kansai RIETI Questionnaires). The results of responses from more than 2,000 companies showed that most companies began utilizing new financial products due to introductions by main banks, and it was seen that the diversification of fund rising methods among small and medium-sized businesses has developed as a result of efforts made by policy-making authorities and financial institutions. However, the rate of utilization of each financial method is as low as a few percentage points, and extremely small businesses or cash-strapped companies has not improved in terms of fund risings. Improved diversification was mainly found in excellent small and medium-sized businesses.Financing Products; SME Finance; Relationship Banking; Main Bank.
Preparing for Large Natural Catastrophes: The current state and challenges of earthquake insurance in Japan
Full text linkGlobal incidents of major natural catastrophes are becoming increasingly common in recent years. Seismological research has shown earthquake-prone Japan to be at particular risk from not only inland earthquakes, but also from repeat incidents of major earthquakes such as the Tokai, Tonankai, and Nankai earthquakes. In such an eventuality, earthquake insurance is expected to play a part in ex-post recovery efforts from the damage caused by these earthquakes, with the Japanese government developing special support programs. The previously low penetration rate of earthquake insurance in Japan, however, meant that it did not play a significant role in recovery efforts following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Despite recent progress in improving the system and an increasing awareness of the risks from earthquakes, the penetration rate of earthquake insurance in Japan remains at approximately 20%. In this study we discuss the current state and issues of earthquake insurance in Japan.Earthquake Insurance; natural catastrophes; Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
Co-movement between Commodity Market and Equity Market: Does Commodity Market Change?
Full text linkThis paper, using Japanese market data, finds that although the correlation between equity markets and commodity market used to be negative or almost zero before around 2006, it has increased significantly after the global financial crisis in Autumn of 2008. In this sense, the commodity market lost its character as an alternative asset. However, the author argues that it is too early to conclude so because of several reasons.TOCOM; Commodity Futures; Japan; Index; Bubble
Japanese SMEs and the credit guarantee system after the global financial crisis
Full text linkThis paper provides a brief explanation of the Japanese public credit guarantee system and analyzes what role it played during the global financial crisis. The author conducted a questionnaire survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Aichi Prefecture, the prefecture most seriously hit by the crisis, in collaboration with the Aichi-ken Credit Guarantee Corporation. Using the survey, which provides valuable information about the usage of the credit guarantee program, this paper finds that the credit guarantee system was effective in protecting the economy from collapsing. The system was so generous that now almost all SMEs want it to remain unchanged. However, as the generous system brings heavy financial burdens on the Japanese government and, more seriously, discourages firms and banks from improving their efficiencies, the author insists that reforms, such as limiting the target and the guarantee coverage, are inevitable
Corporate Demand for Financial Services and Issues in SME Finance (Japanese)
Full text linkSince the adoption of the "Action Program Concerning Enhancement of Relationship Banking Functions" in March 2003, both government and regional financial institutions have made efforts to strengthen relationship banking functions. However, what SMEs really demand to regional financial institutions has not necessarily become clear. SMEs are of course highly diverse and major changes have occurred in the financial environment. Thus efforts to canvas the views of actual SMEs are essential in constructing the financial systems that companies want. This study surveyed 9,000 companies in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo Prefectures) in June 2005, and questionnaires were returned by 2,041 firms. This paper sets out the results of the survey and examines corporate demands to regional financial institutions as well as policy issues for meeting those demands. The questionnaire covered a wide range of key issues relating to SME finance and consisted of the following sections: I. Respondent attributes; II. Respondent company attributes; III. General questions on the company's business; IV. General corporate financial policy; V. Relationship with main bank; VI. General questions on banking; VII. Screening of SMEs by financial institutions; VIII. The credit guarantee system. By analyzing the survey results it was possible to clarify the status of regional finance - especially SME finance - in Japan and identify issues. Moreover, the questions were designed to facilitate comparison with a similar survey of companies in the Tokai region conducted separately by the author and with surveys by other institutions. As a result, it was possible to identify particular characteristics of companies in the Kansai region compared to those in other regions. The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 briefly looks at the overall situation of companies in the Kansai region. Section 3 outlines the survey. Sections 4-9 analyze the responses to the questionnaire. Section 10 uses balance sheet data to analyze the relationship between companies' financial attributes and questionnaire responses. Due to data usability requirements, this analysis is limited to 745 of the respondent companies. Finally, Section 11 summarizes the policy implications of this study. The questionnaire used for the survey is appended.
Co-movement between Commodity Market and Equity Market: Does Commodity Market Change?
Full text linkThis paper, using Japanese market data, finds that although the correlation between equity markets and commodity market used to be negative or almost zero before around 2006, it has increased significantly after the global financial crisis in Autumn of 2008. In this sense, the commodity market lost its character as an alternative asset. However, the author argues that it is too early to conclude so because of several reasons
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
A note on the location choice of multinational banks: The case of Japanese financial institutions
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