Parameters measuring bank risk and their estimation

The paper develops estimation of three parameters of banking risk based on an explicit model of expected utility maximization by financial institutions subject to the classical technology restrictions of neoclassical production theory. The parameters are risk aversion, prudence or downside risk aversion and generalized risk resulting from a factor model of loan prices. The model can be estimated using standard econometric techniques, like GMM for dynamic panel data and latent factor analysis for the estimation of covariance matrices. An explicit functional form for the utility function is not needed and we show how measures of risk aversion and prudence (downside risk aversion) can be derived and estimated from the model. The model is estimated using data for Eurozone countries and we focus particularly on (i) the use of the modeling approach as a device close to an “early warning mechanism”, (ii) the bank- and country-specific estimates of risk aversion and prudence (downside risk aversion), and (iii) the derivation of a generalized measure of risk that relies on loan-price uncertainty. Moreover, the model provides estimates of loan price distortions and thus, allocative efficiency.