The role of pawnshops in risk coping in early twentieth-century Japan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21604960 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tatsuki Inoue (0000-0002-3290-2100, Tokyo University of Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 319-343 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Financial History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0968-5650 • E-ISSN: 1474-0052 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0968565021000111 |
| OpenAlex | W3122127172 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
This study examines the role of pawnshops as a risk-coping device in Japan in the early twentieth century, when the poor were very vulnerable to unexpected shocks such as illness. In contrast to European countries, Japanese pawnshops were the primary financial institution for low-income people up to the 1920s. Using data on pawnshop loans for more than 250 municipalities and exploiting the 1918–20 influenza pandemic as a natural experiment, we find that the adverse health shock increased the total amount of loans from pawnshops. This is because those who regularly relied on pawnshops borrowed more money from them than usual, and not because the number of people who used pawnshops increased. Our estimation results indicate that pawnshop loan amounts increased by approximately 7–10 percent due to the pandemic. These findings suggest that pawnshop loans were widely used as a risk-coping strategy
Business · Demographic economics · Development economics · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Influenza pandemic · Loan · Pandemic · Political science · Shock therapy · Unemployment · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Medicine · Finance · Internal Medicine
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |