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Measuring efficiency at U.S. banks: accounting for heterogeneity is important

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Author Info
Loretta J. Mester

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Abstract

Estimates of bank cost efficiency can be biased if bank heterogeneity is ignored. The author compares X-inefficiency measures derived from a model that constrains the cost frontier to be the same for all banks in the nation and a model that allows the cost functions and error terms to differ across Federal Reserve Districts. The author finds that the data reject the single cost function model; X-inefficiency measures based on the single cost function model are, on average, higher than those based on the separate cost functions model; the distributions of the one-sided error terms on which X-inefficiency measures are based are wider for the single cost function model than for the separate cost functions models; and the ranking of Districts by the level of X-inefficiency differs in the two models. The differences in efficiency across Districts reflect more than just differences in bank size, geographic size, or population of the Districts. These results suggest that it is important when studying X-inefficiency to account for differences across the markets in which banks are operating and, more generally, that since X-inefficiency is, by construction, a residual, it will be particularly sensitive to omissions in the basic model.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in its series Working Papers with number 96-11/R.

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Date of creation: 1996
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:96-11

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Keywords: Banks and banking - Costs;

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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. Mester, Loretta J., 1996. "A study of bank efficiency taking into account risk-preferences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 1025-1045, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Waldman, Donald M., 1982. "A stationary point for the stochastic frontier likelihood," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 275-279, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. Lang & Loretta J. Mester, 1995. "Recovering technologies that account for generalized managerial preferences: an application to non-risk neutral banks," Working Papers 95-8/R, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
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  4. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. 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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  6. Mester, Loretta J., 1993. "Efficiency in the savings and loan industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 267-286, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Joseph P. Hughes & William Lang & Loretta J. Mester & Choon-Geol Moon, 1996. "Efficient banking under interstate branching," Proceedings, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), pages 1045-1075.
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  8. P.A.V.B. Swamy & Jalal D. Akhavein & Stephen B. Taubman, 1994. "A general method of deriving the efficiencies of banks from a profit function," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 94-11, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  9. 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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(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. J.A. Bikker, 2003. "Efficiency and Cost Differences across Countries in a Unified EuropeanBanking Market," DNB Staff Reports (discontinued) 87, Netherlands Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Loretta J. Mester, 2005. "Optimal industrial structure in banking," Working Papers 08-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  3. Guohua Feng & Apostolos Serletis, 2009. "Efficiency and productivity of the US banking industry, 1998-2005: evidence from the Fourier cost function satisfying global regularity conditions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(1), pages 105-138. [Downloadable!]
  4. J.A. Bikker, 1999. "Efficiency in the European banking industry: an exploratory analysis to rank countries," Research Series Supervision (discontinued) 18, Netherlands Central Bank, Directorate Supervision. [Downloadable!]
  5. Martin A. Carree, 2002. "Technological Inefficiency and the Skewness of the Error Component in Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-012/2, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Ariel Dinar & Giannis Karagiannis & Vangelis Tzouvelekas, . "Evaluating the Impact of Public and Private Agricultural Extension on Farms Performance: A Non-neutral Stochastic Frontier Approach," Working Papers 0205, University of Crete, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Jason Allen & Walter Engert & Ying Liu, 2006. "Are Canadian Banks Efficient? A Canada--U.S. Comparison," Working Papers 06-33, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  8. Danilo Camargo Igliori, 2005. "Determinants Of Technical Efficiency In Agriculture And Cattle Ranching: A Spatial Analysis For The Brazilian Amazon," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 137, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
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