On the Pacific Rim, Japanese historically a bastion of xenophobia and protectionism is undergoing changes to open competition from new insurance products, services, and capital. To US regulators the Japanese insurance system is like a powerful beast prowling in a dark jungle. The jungle is US ignorance of the cultural, legal, and historical roots of the Japanese way of regulating economic activity. Kwon and Skipper have done a skillful job dispelling the mystery. After reading their paper, non-Japanese regulators should have a much fuller understanding of the structural and legal changes now transforming the insurance industry.
Japanese insurers are formidable competitors and market leaders.
It is found that lobbying activity varies with insurer size, organizational form, the number of states in which an insurer is licensed, the extent to which an insurer writes business in New York, the extent to which an insurer writes business in states with poor insolvency protection records, and financial quality.