Deregulation, disintermediation, and agency costs of debt: evidence from Japan1We are grateful for helpful comments by Craig Dunbar, Vidhan Goyal, Bob Hendershott, James Hodder, Takeo Hoshi, Chuan Yang Hwang, Nararayan Jayaraman, Sangphill Kim, Ken Lehn, Gershon Mandelker, Asatoshi Maeshiro, Bob Nachtmann, Mitchell Petersen, Dick Pettway, Steve Prowse, S. Ghon Rhee, Kuldeep Shastri, Anil Shivdasani, René Stulz, Christopher James (the referee), and Cliff Smith (the editor). Anderson is grateful to the Richard D. Irwin Foundation and the International Business Center at the Katz Graduate School of Business for financial support.1