The financing of industry, 1970-1989: An international comparison

This paper constructs a comparative set of data on the sources of finance for investment for the UK, United States, Germany, and Japan and challenges some conventional views of international differences. We document the problems of international comparisons and argue that net sources and uses data based on national income accounts provide the most consistent information. We conclude that there is no ''market-based'' Anglo-U.S. pattern of finance. Most countries are internally financed with small or negative contributions from market sources. Japan has had larger contributions from all external sources. Over the period of financial liberalization, all countries except Japan have become more internally, and less market, financed. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.