IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/pennin/01-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Explaining the Dramatic Changes in Performance of U.S. Banks: Technological Change, Deregulation and Dynamic Changes in Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Allen N. Berger
  • Loretta J. Mester

Abstract

We investigate the effects of technological change, deregulation, and dynamic changes in competition on the performance of U.S. banks. Our most striking result is that during 1991-1997, cost productivity worsened while profit productivity improved substantially, particularly for banks engaging in mergers. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that banks tried to maximize profits by raising revenues as well as reducing costs. Banks appeared to provide additional or higher quality services that raised costs but also raised revenues by more than the cost increases. The results suggest that methods that exclude revenues when assessing performance may be misleading.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen N. Berger & Loretta J. Mester, 2001. "Explaining the Dramatic Changes in Performance of U.S. Banks: Technological Change, Deregulation and Dynamic Changes in Competition," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-22, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:pennin:01-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/01/0122.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jalal D. Akhavein & Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, "undated". "The Effects of Megamergers on Efficiency and Prices: Evidence from a Bank Profit Function," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-09, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 10 Dec 2019.
    2. Rhoades, Stephen A., 1998. "The efficiency effects of bank mergers: An overview of case studies of nine mergers," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 273-291, March.
    3. Berger, Allen N. & Humphrey, David B., 1991. "The dominance of inefficiencies over scale and product mix economies in banking," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 117-148, August.
    4. 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.
    5. Edwin R. Dean & Kent Kunze, 1992. "Productivity Measurement in Service Industries," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 73-107, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. 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.
    7. Dennis Fixler & Kimberly Zieschang, 1999. "The productivity of the banking sector: integrating financial and production approaches to measuring financial service output," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 547-569, April.
    8. 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;Western Finance Association, vol. 18(1), pages 5-27, October.
    9. Berger, Allen N. & Mester, Loretta J., 1997. "Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 895-947, July.
    10. David Humphrey, 1993. "Cost and technical change: Effects from bank deregulation," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 9-34, June.
    11. Allen N. Berger & Timothy H. Hannan, 1998. "The Efficiency Cost Of Market Power In The Banking Industry: A Test Of The "Quiet Life" And Related Hypotheses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 454-465, August.
    12. 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.
    13. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, "undated". "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.
    14. Berger, Allen N. & Humphrey, David B., 1997. "Efficiency of financial institutions: International survey and directions for future research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 175-212, April.
    15. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 1993. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072181.
    16. Lawrence Slifman & Carol Corrado, 1999. "Decomposition of Productivity and Unit Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 328-332, May.
    17. 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.
    18. Wheelock, David C & Wilson, Paul W, 1999. "Technical Progress, Inefficiency, and Productivity Change in U.S. Banking, 1984-1993," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(2), pages 212-234, May.
    19. Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1992. "Measurement and Efficiency Issues in Commercial Banking," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 245-300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Berger, Allen N. & Bonime, Seth D. & Covitz, Daniel M. & Hancock, Diana, 2000. "Why are bank profits so persistent? The roles of product market competition, informational opacity, and regional/macroeconomic shocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 1203-1235, July.
    21. Michael F. Mohr, 1992. "Recent and Planned Improvements in the Measurement and Deflation of Services Outputs and Inputs in BEA's Gross Product Originating Estimates," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 25-71, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Frame, W Scott & Srinivasan, Aruna & Woosley, Lynn, 2001. "The Effect of Credit Scoring on Small-Business Lending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 813-825, August.
    23. Stiroh, Kevin J., 2000. "How did bank holding companies prosper in the 1990s?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(11), pages 1703-1745, November.
    24. Michael Devaney & William Weber, 2000. "Productivity growth, market structure, and technological change: evidence from the rural banking sector," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(6), pages 587-595.
    25. Loretta J. Mester, 1997. "What's the point of credit scoring?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Sep, pages 3-16.
    26. Sealey, Calvin W, Jr & Lindley, James T, 1977. "Inputs, Outputs, and a Theory of Production and Cost at Depository Financial Institutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1251-1266, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allen N. Berger & Loretta J. Mester, 1999. "What explains the dramatic changes in cost and profit performance of the U.S. banking industry?," Working Papers 99-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Demsetz, Rebecca S. & Strahan, Philip E., 1999. "The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 135-194, February.
    3. Berger, Allen N. & Mester, Loretta J., 1997. "Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 895-947, July.
    4. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 2013. "Measuring the Performance of Banks: Theory, Practice, Evidence, and Some Policy Implications," Departmental Working Papers 201322, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    5. Casu, Barbara & Girardone, Claudia & Molyneux, Philip, 2004. "Productivity change in European banking: A comparison of parametric and non-parametric approaches," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2521-2540, October.
    6. 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.
    7. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 2008. "Efficiency in banking: theory, practice, and evidence," Working Papers 08-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. Christian Castro & Jorge E. Galán, 2019. "Drivers of Productivity in the Spanish Banking Sector: Recent Evidence," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 115-141, June.
    9. Schure, Paul & Wagenvoort, Rien & O'Brien, Dermot, 2004. "The efficiency and the conduct of European banks: Developments after 1992," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 371-396.
    10. Maudos, Joaquin & Pastor, Jose M. & Perez, Francisco & Quesada, Javier, 2002. "Cost and profit efficiency in European banks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 33-58, February.
    11. Berger, Allen N. & Humphrey, David B., 1997. "Efficiency of financial institutions: International survey and directions for future research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 175-212, April.
    12. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 2018. "The Performance of Financial Institutions: Modeling, Evidence, and Some Policy Implications," Departmental Working Papers 201805, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    13. Allen Berger & Robert DeYoung, 2001. "The Effects of Geographic Expansion on Bank Efficiency," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 19(2), pages 163-184, April.
    14. Emir Malikov & Diego Restrepo-Tobón & Subal Kumbhakar, 2015. "Estimation of banking technology under credit uncertainty," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 185-211, August.
    15. Sufian, Fadzlan & Abdul Majid, Muhamed Zulkhibri, 2007. "Bank Ownership, Characteristics and Performance: A Comparative Analysis of Domestic and Foreign Islamic Banks in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 12131, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Jun 2007.
    16. Adel A. Al‐Sharkas & M. Kabir Hassan & Shari Lawrence, 2008. "The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Efficiency of the US Banking Industry: Further Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1‐2), pages 50-70, January.
    17. Amel, Dean & Barnes, Colleen & Panetta, Fabio & Salleo, Carmelo, 2004. "Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: A review of the international evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2493-2519, October.
    18. Berger, Allen N., 2003. "The efficiency effects of a single market for financial services in Europe," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(3), pages 466-481, November.
    19. Mansour, Rana & El Moussawi, Chawki, 2020. "Efficiency, technical progress and productivity of Arab banks: A non-parametric approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 191-208.
    20. Williams, Jonathan, 2004. "Determining management behaviour in European banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2427-2460, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wop:pennin:01-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fiupaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.