Zombies, again? The COVID-19 business support programs in Japan

Cross-country evidence on the allocation of COVID-19 government subsidies and consequences for productivity

“…Harasztosi et al (2021) employ results of an EU-wide EIB Investment Survey and document that firms with low pre-Covid-19 productivity are significantly more likely to be supported than firms with high productivity and that being an exporter also matters, albeit to a lesser extent. Similarly, studies focusing on Japanese experience, among others Morikawa (2021) , Hoshi et al (2022) or Honda et al (2023) , find that less productive firms or firm with lower credit scores were more likely to apply for and receive subsidies.…”

COVID-19 policies and hoteliers' responses in Japan

“…Looking at the behaviour of individual hotel chains, not all chains necessarily responded to the policy in a uniformly passive manner. However, strong economic incentives resulted in many hotels choosing similar employment practices ( Hoshi et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Finally, while policies have allowed many hoteliers to remain in business, they may also have the inherent negative effect of preserving inefficient management ( Hoshi et al, 2022 ). Japan's policy towards hoteliers can be regarded as a success in that it has achieved two objectives: to deter infection and maintain business.…”

“… Hoshi, Kawaguchi, and Ueda (2022) examined the effects of these subsidies and the support, and rated the firms with poor performance (suggested by low credit scores) before the pandemic as being more likely to receive these government supports.…”

Income inequality and entrepreneurship: Lessons from the 2020 COVID-19 recession

“…Other papers focus on the exit margin instead, such as Gourinchas et al. (2020) , Zoller-Rydzek and Keller (2020) or Hoshi et al. (2022) .…”