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What explains the dramatic changes in cost and profit performance of the U.S. banking industry?

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Allen N. Berger
Loretta J. Mester

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Abstract

We investigate the sources of recent changes in the performance of U.S. banks using concepts and techniques borrowed from the cross-section efficiency literature. Our most striking result is that during 1991-1997, cost productivity worsened while profit productivity improved substantially, particularly for banks engaging in mergers. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that banks tried to maximize profits by raising revenues as well as reducing costs, and that banks provided additional services or higher service quality that raised costs but also raised revenues by more than the cost increases. The results suggest that methods that exclude revenues may be misleading.

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Paper provided by Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.) in its series Finance and Economics Discussion Series with number 1999-13.

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Date of creation: 1999
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:1999-13

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Keywords: Banks and banking ; Banks and banking - Costs;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
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.:
  1. Hughes, Joseph P, et al, 1996. "Efficient Banking under Interstate Branching," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(4), pages 1045-71, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hannan, Timothy H., 1991. "Bank commercial loan markets and the role of market structure: evidence from surveys of commercial lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 133-149, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Allen N. Berger & Loretta J. Mester, 1997. "Inside the Black Box: What Explains Differences in the Efficiencies of Financial Institutions?," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 97-04, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1997. "Efficiency of financial institutions: international survey and directions for future research," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-11, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  5. Berger, Allen N. & Leusner, John H. & Mingo, John J., 1997. "The efficiency of bank branches," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 141-162, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Allen N. Berger & J. David Cummins & Mary A. Weiss, 1995. "The coexistence of multiple distribution systems for financial services: the case of property-liability insurance," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 95-22, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  7. Berger, Allen N & Hannan, Timothy H, 1989. "The Price-Concentration Relationship in Banking," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(2), pages 291-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Allen N. Berger & Robert DeYoung, 1997. "Problem loans and cost efficiency in commercial banks," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-8, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Loretta J. Mester & Leonard I. Nakamura & Micheline Renault, 1998. "Checking accounts and bank monitoring," Working Papers 98-25, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Rhoades, Stephen A., 1998. "The efficiency effects of bank mergers: An overview of case studies of nine mergers," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 273-291, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Mester, Loretta J., 1992. "Traditional and nontraditional banking: An information-theoretic approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 545-566, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Mitchell, Karlyn & Onvural, Nur M, 1996. "Economies of Scale and Scope at Large Commercial Banks: Evidence from the Fourier Flexible Functional Form," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(2), pages 178-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Allen, Linda & Saunders, Anthony & Udell, Gregory F., 1991. "The pricing of retail deposits: Concentration and information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 335-361, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 1998. "Bank Capitalization And Cost: Evidence Of Scale Economies In Risk Management And Signaling," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 314-325, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Berger, Allen N. & Humphrey, David B., 1991. "The dominance of inefficiencies over scale and product mix economies in banking," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 117-148, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Allen Berger & Timothy Hannan, 1994. "The Efficiency Cost of Market Power in the Banking Industry: A Test of the 'Quiet Life' and Related Hypotheses," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 94-29, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
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  17. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. Lang & Loretta J. Mester & Choon-Geol Moon, 1996. "Efficient banking under interstate branching," Working Papers 96-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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  18. McAllister, Patrick H. & McManus, Douglas, 1993. "Resolving the scale efficiency puzzle in banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 389-405, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Hughes, Joseph P. & Lang, William W. & Mester, Loretta J. & Moon, Choon-Geol, 1999. "The dollars and sense of bank consolidation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 291-324, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Allen N. Berger & Timothy H. Hannan, 1993. "Using efficiency measures to distinguish among alternative explanations of the structure-performance relationship in banking," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 93-18, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  21. Jalal D. Akhavein & Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1997. "The effects of megamergers on efficiency and prices: evidence from a bank profit function," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-9, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  22. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. Lang & Loretta J. Mester & Choon-Geol Moon, 1997. "Recovering risky technologies using the almost ideal demand system: an application to U.S. banking," Working Papers 97-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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  23. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, . "A Quality and Risk-Adjusted Cost Function for Banks: Evidence on the "Too-Big-To-Fail" Doctrine," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 25-92, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
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  24. Allen N. Berger & Anil K. Kashyap & Joseph Scalise, 1995. "The Transformation of the U.S. Banking Industry: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 96-06, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
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  25. Michael F. Mohr, 1992. "Recent and Planned Improvements in the Measurement and Deflation of Services Outputs and Inputs in BEA's Gross Product Originating Estimates," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 25-71 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  26. Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1992. "Measurement and Efficiency Issues in Commercial Banking," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 245-300 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
Full references

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.)

  1. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Ana Lozano-Vivas & C. A. Knox Lovell & Iftekhar Hasan, 1999. "The Effects of Deregulation on the Performance of Financial Institutions: The Case of Spanish Savings Banks," New York University, Leonard N. Stern School Finance Department Working Paper Seires 99-064, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business-. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Thomas L. Marsh & Allen M. Featherstone & Thomas A. Garrett, 2003. "Input inefficiency in commercial banks: a normalized quadratic input distance approach," Working Papers 2003-036, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
  3. Robert H. McGuckin & Kevin Stiroh, 2000. "Do Computers Make Output Harder to Measure?," Economics Program Working Papers 00-02, The Conference Board, Economics Program. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Emili Tortosa Ausina, 1999. "-Convergence In Efficiency Of The Spanish Banking Firms As Distribution Dynamics," Working Papers. Serie EC 1999-14, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie). [Downloadable!]
  5. Andrés F. Arias, . "Banking Productivity and Economic Fluctuations: Colombia 1998-2000," Borradores de Economia 192, Banco de la Republica de Colombia. [Downloadable!]
  6. Allen N. Berger & Margaret K. Kyle & Joseph M. Scalise, 2000. "Did U.S. bank supervisors get tougher during the credit crunch? Did they get easier during the banking boom? Did it matter to bank lending?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-39, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. repec:att:wimass:19199932 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Andrés Arias, 2002. "Banking Productivity and Economic Fluctuations: Colombia 1998-2000," REVISTA DESARROLLO Y SOCIEDAD, UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES-CEDE. [Downloadable!]
  9. Jason Allen & Ying Liu, 2005. "Efficiency and Economies of Scale of Large Canadian Banks," Working Papers 05-13, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Ananth Rao, 2003. "Efficiency Analysis of UAE Banks," Finance 0304011, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. Andrés Felipe Arias, 2001. "Banking Productivity And Economic Fluctuations: Colombia 1998-2000," BORRADORES DE ECONOMIA 002050, BANCO DE LA REPÚBLICA. [Downloadable!]
  12. Allen N. Berger, 2000. "The integration of the financial services industry: where are the efficiencies?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-36, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  13. Russell Cooper & Dean Corbae, 2001. "Financial collapse and active monetary policy: a lesson from the Great Depression," Staff Report 289, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
  14. Danny Leung & Terence Yuen, 2005. "Labour Market Adjustments to Exchange Rate Fluctuations: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 05-14, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  15. Anthony M Santomero & David L. Eckles, 2000. "The Determinants Of Success In the New Financial Services Environment: Now That Firms Can Do Everything, What Should They Do And Why Should Regulators Care?," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-32, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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