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Are Scale Economies in Banking Elusive or Illusive?

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Author Info
Joseph P. Hughes () (Rutgers University)
Loretta J. Mester (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia)
Choon-Geol Moon () (Hanyang University)

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Abstract

This paper explores how to incorporate banks' capital structure and risk-taking into models of production. In doing so, the paper bridges the gulf between (1) the banking literature that studies moral hazard effects of bank regulation without considering the underlying microeconomics of production and (2) the literature that uses dual profit and cost functions to study the microeconomics of bank production without explicitly considering how banks' production decisions influence their riskiness. Various production models that differ in how they account for capital structure and in the objectives they impute to bank managers—cost minimization versus value maximization—are estimated using U.S. data on highest-level bank holding companies. Modeling the bank's objective as value maximization conveniently incorporates both market-priced risk and expected cash flow into managers' ranking and choice of production plans. Estimated scale economies are found to depend critically on how banks' capital structure and risk-taking is modeled. In particular, when equity capital, in addition to debt, is included in the production model and cost is computed from the value-maximizing expansion path rather than the cost-minimizing path, banks are found to have large scale economies that increase with size. Moreover, better diversification is associated with larger scale economies while increased risk-taking and inefficient risk-taking are associated with smaller scale economies.

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Paper provided by Rutgers University, Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number 200004.

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Date of creation: 16 Jun 2000
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Handle: RePEc:rut:rutres:200004

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Related research
Keywords: banking; risk; scale economies;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior
G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Mortgages

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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. Loretta J. Mester, 1989. "Testing for Expense Preference Behavior: Mutual versus Stock Savings and Loans," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(4), pages 483-498, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Evanoff, Douglas D & Israilevich, Philip R & Merris, Randall C, 1990. "Relative Price Efficiency, Technical Change, and Scale Economies for Large Commercial Banks," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 281-98, September.
  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. Allen N. Berger & Loretta J. Mester, 1997. "Inside the black box: what explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-10, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  5. Mester, Loretta J., 1991. "Agency costs among savings and loans," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 257-278, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. 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)
  7. Rebecca S. Demsetz & Marc R. Saidenberg & Philip E. Strahan, 1996. "Banks with something to lose: the disciplinary role of franchise value," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Oct, pages 1-14. [Downloadable!]
  8. 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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  9. Keeley, Michael C, 1990. "Deposit Insurance, Risk, and Market Power in Banking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1183-1200, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Calomiris, Charles W & Kahn, Charles M, 1991. "The Role of Demandable Debt in Structuring Optimal Banking Arrangements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 497-513, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Humphrey, David B & Pulley, Lawrence B, 1997. "Banks' Responses to Deregulation: Profits, Technology, and Efficiency," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(1), pages 73-93, February.
  12. English, M. & Grosskopf, S. & Hayes, K. & Yaisawarng, S., 1993. "Output allocative and technical efficiency of banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 349-366, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Braeutigam, Ronald R. & Daughety, Andrew F., 1983. "On the estimation of returns to scale using variable cost functions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 25-31. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. 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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  15. Bhattacharya Sudipto & Thakor Anjan V., 1993. "Contemporary Banking Theory," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 2-50, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. 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)
  17. Douglas D. Evanoff, 1998. "Assessing the impact of regulation on bank cost efficiency," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q II, pages 21-32. [Downloadable!]
  18. Joseph Hughes, 1999. "Incorporating risk into the analysis of production," Atlantic Economic Journal, International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 27(1), pages 1-23, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. 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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  20. Gorton, Gary & Rosen, Richard, 1995. " Corporate Control, Portfolio Choice, and the Decline of Banking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1377-1420, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. 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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  22. Flannery, Mark J, 1994. "Debt Maturity and the Deadweight Cost of Leverage: Optimally Financing Banking Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 320-31, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Hughes, Joseph P., 1999. "Measuring efficiency when competitive prices aggregate differences in product quality and risk," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 47-76, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-26, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. 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)
  26. 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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  27. Deborah J. Lucas & Robert L. McDonald, 1992. "Bank Financing and Investment Decisions with Asymmetric Information about Loan Quality," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(1), pages 86-105, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Clark, Jeffrey A, 1996. "Economic Cost, Scale Efficiency, and Competitive Viability in Banking," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 342-64, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, . "Effects of Financial Capital on Colombian Banking Efficiency," Borradores de Economia 292, Banco de la Republica de Colombia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Huberto M. Ennis & H.S. Malek, 2005. "Bank risk of failure and the too-big-to-fail policy," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Spr, pages 21-44. [Downloadable!]
  3. Lamberte, Mario B. & Desrochers, Martin, 2002. "Efficiency and Expense Preference in the Philippines' Cooperative Rural Banks," Discussion Papers DP 2002-12, Philippine Institute for Development Studies. [Downloadable!]
  4. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. Lang & Loretta J. Mester & Choon-Geol Moon & Michael S. Pagano, 2002. "Do Bankers Sacrifice Value to Build Empires? Managerial Incentives, Industry Consolidation and Financial Performance," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 02-18, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Charles W. Calomiris & Doron Nissim, 2007. "Activity-Based Valuation of Bank Holding Companies," NBER Working Papers 12918, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Darren Pain, . "The provisioning experience of the major UK banks: a small panel investigation," Bank of England working papers 177, Bank of England. [Downloadable!]
  7. Martin Desrochers & Mario Lamberte, 2003. "Efficiency and Expense Preference in Philippines' Cooperative Rural Banks," Cahiers de recherche 0321, CIRPEE. [Downloadable!]
  8. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, 2004. "Effects Of Financial Capital On Colombian Banking Efficiency," BORRADORES DE ECONOMIA 002432, BANCO DE LA REPÚBLICA. [Downloadable!]
  9. Joseph P. Hughes & Choon-Geol Moon, 2004. "Estimating managers' utility-maximizing demand for agency goods," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue May, pages 320-352. [Downloadable!]
  10. Joseph Hughes & William Lang & Loretta Mester & Choon-Geol Moon, 2000. "Recovering Risky Technologies Using the Almost Ideal Demand System: An Application to U.S. Banking," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 5-27, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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