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Are Credit Unions Too Small?

Author

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  • David C. Wheelock

    (Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis)

  • Paul W. Wilson

    (Clemson University)

Abstract

U.S. credit unions serve 93 million members, hold 10% of U.S. savings deposits, and make 13.2% of all nonrevolving consumer loans. Since 1985, the share of U.S. depository institution assets held by credit unions has nearly doubled, and the average (inflation-adjusted) size of credit unions has increased over 600%. We use a local-linear estimator, dimesion-reduction techniques, and bootstrap methods to estimate and make inference about ray scale and expansion-path scale economies. We find substantial evidence of increasing returns to scale among credit unions of all sizes, suggesting that further consolidation and growth among credit unions are likely. © 2011 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2011. "Are Credit Unions Too Small?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1343-1359, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:93:y:2011:i:4:p:1343-1359
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    Cited by:

    1. Diego Restrepo-Tobón & Subal Kumbhakar & Kai Sun, 2015. "Obelix vs. Asterix: Size of US commercial banks and its regulatory challenge," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 125-168, October.
    2. Modina, Michele & Pietrovito, Filomena & Gallucci, Carmen & Formisano, Vincenzo, 2023. "Predicting SMEs’ default risk: Evidence from bank-firm relationship data," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 254-268.
    3. Tarcio Da Silva & Carlos Martins-filho & Eduardo Ribeiro, 2016. "A comparison of nonparametric efficiency estimators: DEA, FDH, DEAC, FDHC, order-m and quantile," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 118-131.
    4. Jean-Michel Sahut & Faten Ben Bouheni, 2019. "Profitability and Risk-Taking Among Cooperative Banks in the Eurozone," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1103-1117.
    5. R. Raymond Sant & Regina W. Schroeder, 2012. "Credit Unions and Capital Adequacy: Managing Growth and Risk," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(6), pages 241-255, November.
    6. Derek C. Jones & Panu Kalmi, 2012. "Economies of Scale Versus Participation: a Co-operative Dilemma?," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 1(1), pages 37-64, December.
    7. Regmi, Madhav & Featherstone, Allen Merril, 2018. "Differential Taxation In Agricultural Credit Market," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266692, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    8. R. Raymond Sant & Stephen B. Carter, 2015. "Acquired Credit Unions: Drivers of Takeover," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 5(8), pages 18-33, August.
    9. Malikov, Emir & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Sun, Yiguo, 2016. "Varying coefficient panel data model in the presence of endogenous selectivity and fixed effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 190(2), pages 233-251.
    10. Christian Ewerhart & Robertas Zubrickas, 2019. "Social preference and group identity in the financial cooperative," ECON - Working Papers 332, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    11. Goddard, John & McKillop, Donal G. & Wilson, John O.S., 2023. "Who consumes the credit union subsidies?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Emir Malikov & Diego A. Restrepo-Tobón & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2018. "Heterogeneous credit union production technologies with endogenous switching and correlated effects," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(10), pages 1095-1119, November.
    13. Cristian Badarinza & John Y. Campbell & Tarun Ramadorai, 2016. "International Comparative Household Finance," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 111-144, October.
    14. Andrew C. Worthington, 2010. "Frontier Efficiency Measurement In Deposit‐Taking Financial Mutuals: A Review Of Techniques, Applications, And Future Research Directions," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 81(1), pages 39-75, March.
    15. Schenkel, Andreas, 2016. "Kosten der Compliance-Regulierung: Eine empirische Untersuchung am Beispiel der deutschen Genossenschaftsbanken," Arbeitspapiere 169, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    16. Gregory McKee & Albert Kagan, 2016. "Determinants of recent structural change for small asset U.S. credit unions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 775-795, October.
    17. R. Raymond Sant & Regina W. Schroeder, 2012. "Credit Unions and Capital Adequacy: Managing Growth and Risk," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 2(6), pages 241-255, November.
    18. John Goddard & Donal Mckillop & John O. S. Wilson, 2014. "U.S. Credit Unions: Survival, Consolidation, And Growth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 304-319, January.
    19. McKillop, Donal & French, Declan & Quinn, Barry & Sobiech, Anna L. & Wilson, John O.S., 2020. "Cooperative financial institutions: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Diego A. Restrepo-Tobón & Subal C. Kumbhakar & Kai Sun, 2013. "Are U.S. Commercial Banks Too Big?," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 10943, Universidad EAFIT.
    21. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2012. "Do Large Banks Have Lower Costs? New Estimates of Returns to Scale for U.S. Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 171-199, February.
    22. Jordan van Rijn & Shuwei Zeng & Paul Hellman, 2021. "Financial institution objectives and auto loan pricing: Evidence from the survey of consumer finances," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 995-1039, September.
    23. Diego Restrepo-Tobón & Subal Kumbhakar, 2015. "Nonparametric estimation of returns to scale using input distance functions: an application to large U.S. banks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 143-168, February.
    24. Wheelock, David C. & Wilson, Paul W., 2013. "The evolution of cost-productivity and efficiency among US credit unions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 75-88.
    25. R. Raymond Sant & Stephen B. Carter, 2015. "Acquired Credit Unions: Drivers of Takeover," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 5(8), pages 18-33, August.

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