In Japan, Zero Public Companies Went Bust in 2016 (EXEMPLIFYING PERPETUAL-BAILOUT MODE)

Back then, though, an overheated Japanese economy averaged 5.5 percent growth per year and then hit a wall when stock and real estate asset bubbles burst. This time, ultra-low interest rates and government loan guarantees left over from the global financial crisis are keeping companies afloat.

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A January study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development blamed zombies -- defined as firms with persistent difficulties paying interest on debt -- for slowing productivity, and thus causing sluggish growth, in the developed world.

In South Korea, where the shipping industry has been hit by slumping global trade, state-run banks last month agreed to lend Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. $2.6 billion and swap debt for equity to prevent a default. It was the second time in less than two years that the troubled shipbuilder was bailed out.

In China, roughly 10 percent of the country's publicly-traded companies are "among the walking dead," being kept alive by continuous support from government and banks, according to research by He Fan, an economist at Beijing's Renmin University.