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This paper was written while I was the 2018 Banque de France research fellow at the Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS. I would like to acknowledge the generous support and assistance of the Banque de France and EHESS-FFJ staff during the production of this work. ; In recent years and particularly since the global financial crisis, zombie firms—unprofitable businesses supported by financial relief—have generated widespread concern due to their purported harm to economic vitality. Economic studies hold that zombie firms impede the normal flow of capital and human resources to healthy businesses, and thereby defy creative destruction and hurt investment and employment growth. But what causes zombie firms to occur? Addressing this question from a political economy perspective, this paper investigates a novel hypothesis about the role of credit guarantees in supporting weak firms. The results of a case study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s suggest that Japan's credit guarantee system may indeed have contributed to numerous zombies among this firm category. However, evidence also suggests that these firms tended to quickly escape from zombie status, calling into question the negative connotation of the zombie firm concept.

This paper was written while I was the 2018 Banque de France research fellow at the Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS. I would like to acknowledge the generous support and assistance of the Banque de France and EHESS-FFJ staff during the production of this work. In recent years and particularly since the global financial crisis, zombie firms—unprofitable businesses supported by financial relief—have generated widespread concern due to their purported harm to economic vitality. Economic studies hold that zombie firms impede the normal flow of capital and human resources to healthy businesses, and thereby defy creative destruction and hurt investment and employment growth. But what causes zombie firms to occur? Addressing this question from a political economy perspective, this paper investigates a novel hypothesis about the role of credit guarantees in supporting weak firms. The results of a case study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s suggest that Japan's credit guarantee system may indeed have contributed to numerous zombies among this firm category. However, evidence also suggests that these firms tended to quickly escape from zombie status, calling into question the negative connotation of the zombie firm concept.

Scott reviews 'Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence' by R. J. Rummel.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction to the Transaction edition -- Foreword -- Preface -- Chapter 1. The ideology of female liberation -- Chapter 2. The vicissitudes of institutional change -- Chapter 3. The reality of sexual equality -- Chapter 4. The determinants of the counterrevolution -- Chapter 5. Conclusions -- References Cited -- Index

This article provides an account of the founding, growth, and success of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society (IUS), a long-established professional organization for those studying the military and war. How IUS has thrived invites explanation. Two theoretical themes guide our effort: first, the life cycles of organizations literature, and two, a complementary focus on the professional-career life cycles of IUS's participants. To put together our account, we review articles about IUS's early days and present oral history interview material from past and present leaders and members. We conclude with suggestions concerning IUS's future directions.