← Search

Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 21 No. 7 1997

Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?

Allen N. Berger1,2; Loretta J. Mester3,4

1 Federal Reserve · 2 Federal Reserve Board of Governors · 3 University of Pennsylvania · 4 Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

open access

Abstract

Over the past several years, substantial research effort has gone into measuring the efficiency of financial institutions. Many studies have found that inefficiencies are quite large, on the order of 20% or more of total banking industry costs and about half of the industry's potential profits. There is no consensus on the sources of the differences in measured efficiency. this paper examines several possible sources, including differences in efficiency concept, measurement method, and a number of bank, market, and regulatory characteristics. We review the existing literature and provide new evidence using data on US banks over the period 1990–1995.

DOI
10.1016/s0378-4266(97)00010-1
Volume
21
Issue
7
Pages
895-947
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite