Bank-business conglomerates – the Japanese experience

Abstract

From an American point of view, the existence of combines of banking and industrial firms is perhaps the most striking structural feature of the Japanese economic system. Japan’s conspicuous economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s has thus raised a question about the prohibition on conglomerate activities for bank holding companies in the United States. The present paper examines the experience of the Japanese combines during the 1950s and 1960s in light of the adverse effects which have motivated the restrictive United States legislation on conglomerate bank holding companies. The author first looks briefly at some important differences between the postwar combines and the zaibatsu of the prewar years. The possibility of adverse effects on economic concentration, unaffiliated business firms and economic growth is then examined.

JEL: G21, G10