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An internally consistent approach to the estimation of market power and cost efficiency with an application to U.S. banking

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  • Tsionas, Efthymios G.
  • Malikov, Emir
  • Kumbhakar, Subal C.

Abstract

We develop a novel unified econometric methodology for the formal examination of the market power – cost efficiency nexus. Our approach can meaningfully accommodate a mutually dependent relationship between the firm’s cost efficiency and marker power (as measured by the Lerner index) by explicitly modeling the simultaneous determination of the two in a system of nonlinear equations consisting of the firm’s cost frontier and the revenue-to-cost ratio equation derived from its stochastic revenue function. Our framework places no a priori restrictions on the sign of the dependence between the firm’s market power and efficiency as well as allows for different hierarchical orderings between the two, enabling us to discriminate between competing quiet life and efficient structure hypotheses. Among other benefits, our approach completely obviates the need for second-stage regressions of the cost efficiency estimates on the constructed market power measures which, while widely prevalent in the literature, suffer from multiple econometric problems as well as lack internal consistency/validity. We showcase our methodology by applying it to a panel of U.S. commercial banks in 1984–2007 using Bayesian MCMC methods.

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  • Tsionas, Efthymios G. & Malikov, Emir & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2018. "An internally consistent approach to the estimation of market power and cost efficiency with an application to U.S. banking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(2), pages 747-760.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:270:y:2018:i:2:p:747-760
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2018.04.012
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    Cited by:

    1. Delis, Manthos D. & Iosifidi, Maria & Tsionas, Mike, 2020. "Management estimation in banking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 355-372.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Size, efficiency, market power, and economies of scale in the African banking sector," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Shaffer, Sherrill & Spierdijk, Laura, 2020. "Measuring multi-product banks’ market power using the Lerner index," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    4. Yao, Xin & Huang, Ruting & Du, Kerui, 2019. "The impacts of market power on power grid efficiency: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 99-110.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity & competitiveness; Efficiency; Market power; Lerner index; Banks;

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C30 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - General
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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