A persistent paradox in stochastic frontier efficiency research is that we cannot compare the X-efficiency of firms without assuming these firms to operate under a common frontier. In this paper, we address this imbalance by constructing so-called metafrontiers. Specifically, we build on recent advances by Battese et al. (2002) in enveloping regional frontiers. First, we estimate country-specific and common cost and profit frontiers. Second, we apply a type of envelope that provides a good fit for a meta-frontier. Using a data set of more than 5000 large commercial banks from all major European banking markets over the period 1993-2000, the application of meta-frontiers enables us to assess the existence of a single European banking market. Empirical evidence supports the view that traditional efficiency techniques based on pooled frontier efficiency scores tend to underestimate cost and profit efficiency levels resulting in biased cross-country comparisons.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)