The Degree of Judicial Enforcement and Credit Markets: Evidence from Japanese Household Panel Data

The length of trials in Japan has become shorter over time. Theory predicts that better judicial enforcement (i.e., faster court proceedings) will decrease the probability of being credit rationed, increase loan size, and increase the probability of bankruptcy. Our estimation results based on micro data from a panel survey of consumers in conjunction with judicial data by court district show that better judicial enforcement increases the probability of being rationed in some cases and decreases loan size (contrary to expectation) but increases the probability of bankruptcy (as expected). Thus, better judicial enforcement facilitates the recovery of loans but may be socially harmful.