Yishay Yafeh holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University (1993), and has taught at Oxford, University of Montreal, and Hebrew University. He has served as Vice Dean (2010-2012) and Dean (2012-2016) of the Hebrew University Business School.
Yafeh’s research interests are corporate governance, financial intermediation, the economies of East Asia, and economic and financial history. Prof. Yafeh has served as an advisor to the Bank of Israel, the Israel Securities Authority, and the International Monetary Fund; and on several government-appointed committees, most recently a committee on pension reform in Israel.
Yafeh’s research has been published, among others, in the Journal of Finance, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Economic Literature, Management Science, the Review of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Economics. He co-authored, together with Paolo Mauro and Nathan Sussman, Emerging Markets and Financial Globalization (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Yishay Yafeh is a Research Fellow of the London-based CEPR and the Brussels-based ECGI, and the recipient of numerous research grants from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and the Binational Science Foundation (BSF).
- Research Summary
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Yafeh's research fields are Corporate governance, Financial intermediation and banking, the Japanese economy and the economies of East Asia and Economic and financial history. His research papers were published in a leading journals like the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Economic Literature.
- Publications
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“The Rise of Scientific Research in Corporate America” (with Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, Konstantin Kosenko and Jungkyu Suh), forthcoming, Organization Science.
"Conditional Control: The Consequences of Expanding Creditors’ Right to Initiate Bankruptcy” (with Assaf Hamdani, Yevgeny Mugerman, Ruth Rooz and Nadav Steinberg), forthcoming, Journal of Law and Economics.
"Regulatory Measures to Dismantle Pyramidal Business Groups: Evidence from the United States, Japan, Korea and Israel" (VOX EU column, Promarket column, presentation video at the University of Chicago), Journal of Law, Finance and Accounting, Vol. 6: No. 2, 2021, pp 221-261
“The Effect of Minority Veto Rights on Controller Pay Tunneling” (with Jesse Fried and Ehud Kamar), Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 138, No. 3, 2020, pp. 777-788.
“The Great Pyramids of America: A Revised History of US Business Groups, Corporate Ownership and Regulation, 1926-1950” (with Eugene Kandel, Konstantin Kosenko and Randall Morck), Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 40, No. 5, 2019, pp. 781-808.
“Incentive Fees and Competition in Pension Funds: Evidence from a Regulatory Experiment in Israel” (with Assaf Hamdani, Eugene Kandel and Yevgeny Mugerman), Journal of Law, Finance and Accounting, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2017, pp. 49-86.
“Institutions and Financial Frictions: Estimating with Structural Restrictions on Firm Value and Investment” (with Stijn Claessens and Kenichi Ueda), Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 110, September 2014, pp. 107-122.
“Institutional Investors as Minority Shareholders” (with Assaf Hamdani), Review of Finance, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2013, pp. 691-725.
Reprinted in L Enriques and T. Tröger (eds.), The Law and Finance of Related Party Transactions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019.
“Comovement of Newly Added Stocks with National Market Indices: Evidence from around the World” (with Stijn Claessens), Review of Finance, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2013, pp. 203-227.
“Do Cultural Differences between Contracting Parties Matter? Evidence from Syndicated Bank Loans” (with Mariassunta Giannetti), Management Science, Vol. 58, No. 2, 2012, pp. 365-383.
“Long Term Changes in Voting Power and Control Structure following the Unification of Dual Class Shares” (with Beni Lauterbach), Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2011, pp. 215-228.
“Can Venture Capital Funds Pick Winners? Evidence from Pre-IPO Survival Rates and Post-IPO Performance” (with Hedva Ber), Israel Economic Review Vol. 5, No. 1, 2007, pp. 23-46 (English version) and Bank of Israel Economic Review, Vol. 81, 2008, pp. 115-141 (Hebrew version).
“Japan’s Banking Crisis: An Event-Study Perspective” (with Hideaki Miyajima), Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 31, No. 9, 2007, pp. 2866-2885.
“Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?” (with Tarun Khanna), Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2007, pp. 331-373.
Reprinted in an abbreviated form in A. Colpan, T. Hikino and J. Lincoln (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Business Groups, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010.
“Institutional Reforms, Financial Development and Sovereign Debt: Britain 1690-1790” (with Nathan Sussman), Journal of Economic History, Vol. 66, No. 4, 2006, pp. 906-935.
Reprinted in D. Klerman (Editor), Economics of Legal History, Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2015.
"The Corporation of Foreign Bondholders" (with Paolo Mauro), IMF Working Paper No. 03/107.
“Sources of Funds and Investment Strategies of Venture Capital Funds: Evidence from Germany, Israel, Japan and the UK” (with Colin Mayer and Koen Schoors), Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2005, pp. 586-608.
“Business Groups and Risk Sharing around the World” (with Tarun Khanna), Journal of Business, Vol. 78, No. 1, 2005, pp. 301-340.
“Large Shareholders and Banks: Who Monitors and How” (with Oved Yosha), Economic Journal, Vol. 113, No. 484, 2003, pp. 128-146.
Reprinted in J. Fan, M. Hanazaki and J. Teranishi (eds.), Designing Financial Systems in East Asia and Japan, Routledge Press, London, 2004.
“Emerging Market Spreads: Then versus Now” (with Paolo Mauro and Nathan Sussman), Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 117, No. 2, 2002, pp. 695-733.
“The Determinants of Israel’s Cost of Capital: Globalization, Reforms and Politics” (with Asher Blass and Osnat Peled), The Economic Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2002, pp. 658-693 (Hebrew version); Israel Economic Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2004, pp. 29-54 (English version).
“The Industrial Organization of Financial Systems and the Strategic Use of Relationship Banking” (with Oved Yosha), Review of Finance, Vol. 5, No. 1-2, 2001, pp. 63-78.
“Vagabond Shoes Longing to Stray: Why Foreign Firms List in the United States” (with Asher Blass), Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2001, pp. 555-572.
“Conflict of Interest in Universal Banking: Bank Lending, Stock Underwriting, and Fund Management” (with Hedva Ber and Oved Yosha), Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2001, pp. 189-218.
“Institutions, Reforms, and Country Risk: Lessons from Japanese Government Debt in the Meiji Period” (with Nathan Sussman), Journal of Economic History, Vol. 60, No. 2, 2000, pp. 442-467.
“Contagion and Capital Market Integration in Asia: Historical and Contemporary Evidence” (with Nathan Sussman), in J. Lee (editor), Structural Adjustments after the Asian Financial Crisis, a special issue of the Seoul Journal of Economics, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1999, pp. 391–417.
“The Gold Standard, the Cost of Foreign Borrowing, and Capital Market Integration: Historical Evidence from Japanese Sovereign Debt” (with Nathan Sussman, in French), in M. Flandreau (editor), A Century of International Financial Architecture, a special issue of Economie Internationale, Vol. 78, No. 2, 1999, pp. 85-103.
“On the Costs of a Bank-Centered Financial System: Evidence from the Changing Main Bank Relations in Japan” (with David Weinstein), Journal of Finance, Vol. 53, No. 2, 1998, pp. 635-672.
“Japan’s Corporate Groups: Collusive or Competitive? An Empirical Investigation of Keiretsu Behavior” (with David Weinstein), Journal of Industrial Economics, Vol. 43, No. 4, 1995, pp. 359-376.
“Corporate Ownership, Profitability and Bank-Firm Ties: Evidence from the American Occupation Reforms in Japan,” Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1995, pp. 154-173.
“A Micro-econometric Analysis of Technology Transfer: The Case of Licensing Agreements of Japanese Firms” (with Jose Montalvo), International Journal of Industrial Organization, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1994, pp. 227-244.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
“Bloodshed or Reforms? The Determinants of Sovereign Bond Spreads in Modern History” (with Nathan Sussman), in D. Coffman, A. Leonard and L. Neal (eds.), Questioning ‘Credible Commitment’: Rethinking the Glorious Revolution and the Rise of Financial Capitalism, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 251-274.
(29), “Business Groups in Israel” (with Konstantin Kosenko), in A. Colpan, T. Hikino and J. Lincoln (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Business Groups, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 459-485.
“The Russo-Japanese War and the Perception of Japan by British Investors” (with Nathan Sussman), in R. Kowner (editor), Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5: A Centennial Perspective, Vol. 1, Global Oriental, Kent 2007, pp. 109-122.
“The Israeli Banking System in Historical Perspective: Diversification versus Competition” (with Oved Yosha and Sharon Blei), in N. Liviatan and H. Barkai (eds.), The Bank of Israel: Fifty Years of Striving for Monetary Control, Vol. 2, Bank of Israel, Jerusalem 2004, pp. 149-164 (Hebrew version); The Bank of Israel: Selected Topics in Israel's Monetary Policy, Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, pp. 171-185 (English version).
“Japan’s Corporate Groups: Some International and Historical Perspectives,” in M. Blomström, J. Corbett, F. Hayashi and A. Kashyap (eds.) Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2003, pp. 259-284.
Surveys and Reviews
“Technological Progress and the Future of the Corporation” (with Assaf Hamdani, Niron Hashai and Eugene Kandel), Journal of the British Academy, Vol. 6, No. S1, 2018, pp. 215-245.
“Financial Crises of the Future: Will They Resemble the Contagious Crises of the 1990s or the Country-Specific Crises of the 1890s?” (with Paolo Mauro), Finance and Development, Vol. 44, No. 4, 2007.
“Corporate Governance in Japan: Past Performance and Future Prospects,” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2000, pp. 74-84.
“Corporate Governance in an Emerging Market: The Case of Israel” (with Asher Blass and Oved Yosha), Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1998, pp. 79-89.
“Financial Markets Reform, Patterns of Corporate Finance, and the Continued Dominance of Large Banks: Israel 1985-95” (with Oved Yosha), Economic Systems, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1998, pp. 175-199.
“Anatomy of Financial Markets Reform from an Industrial Organization Perspective, Israel 1985-1995” (with Oved Yosha, in Hebrew), The Economic Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 4, 1996, pp. 593-619.
“Competition vs. Stability in Capital Markets: Some General Aspects and the International Experience” (with Oved Yosha, in Hebrew), The Economic Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3, 1995, pp. 409-416.
“Introduction: Japan as a Model? Insights and Cautionary Notes” (with Eyal Ben-Ari and Ehud Harari), in the proceedings of the conference Lessons from East Asia for the Middle East in the Era of Peace, The Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University, June 1988, pp. vii-xxiii.
Review Article: “R. Dore, Stock Market Capitalism: Welfare Capitalism, Japan and Germany versus the Anglo-Saxons,” Economica, Vol. 70, No. 280, 2003, pp. 704-705.
Review Article: “M. Fukao, Financial Integration, Corporate Governance and the Performance of Multinational Companies, Brookings Institution”, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1997, pp. 311-313.
Review Article: “Y. Miwa, Firms and Industrial Organization in Japan, New York University Press”, Journal of Economic History, Vol. 57, No. 2, 1997, pp. 554-556.
(44) Review Article: “S. Tsuru, Japan’s Capitalism: Creative Defeat and Beyond, Cambridge University Press”, American Asian Review, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1994, pp. 252-258.