Japanese Bank Regulation and the Activities of U. S. Offices of Japanese Banks: Note
研究日本银行监管如何影响其美国分行的活动，发现日本信贷紧缩时，美国分行贷款增加，表明监管有国际溢出效应。
The impact of regulations on markets, especially in the banking sector, has long been recognized. This note considers the growth of U. S . activities of Japanese banks with special emphasis on the role of Japanese banking controls and regulations. Japanese authorities since World War II have actively participated in their banking markets, resulting in a banking sector that cannot respond freely to market conditions. It is suggested here that Japanese banks use the United States as an alternative source of funds during periods of tight credit in Japan caused by these controls, and it is found that during these periods U.S . activities of Japanese banks increase. This result emphasizes the importance of considering the international impact of regulations, especially in markets with readily transported goods. Three loan demand equations are estimated to identify the importance of U.S. funds to Japanese banks during periods of tight credit demand. The first equation estimates a model of the determinants of demand for commercial and industrial loans from U.S. offices of Japanese banks. The customers for these loans cannot be determined from the data available but presumably include a relatively large number of Japanese firms, operating in both the United States and Japan. The second equation estimates a model of the demand by Japanese banks for funds returned to Japan via interbank loans from U.S. offices of Japanese banks. The third equation compares the demand for commercial and industrial loans of U.S. offices of Japanese banks to that of U.S. banks. Overall, the results support significantly the importance of U.S. offices of Japanese banks to the Japanese credit market. Section 1 reviews characteristics of Japanese banking that may make U.S. offices especially attractive and the literature on foreign direct investment and how it relates