IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v37y2013i1p75-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolution of cost-productivity and efficiency among US credit unions

Author

Listed:
  • Wheelock, David C.
  • Wilson, Paul W.

Abstract

Advances in information-processing technology have eroded the advantages of small scale and proximity to customers that traditionally enabled small lenders to thrive. Nonetheless, the membership and market share of US credit unions have increased, though their average size has also risen. We investigate changes in the efficiency and productivity of US credit unions during 1989–2006 by benchmarking the performance of individual firms against an estimated order-α quantile lying “near” the efficient frontier. We construct a cost analog of the Malmquist productivity index, which we decompose to estimate changes in cost and scale efficiency, and changes in technology. We find that cost-productivity fell on average across all credit unions but especially among smaller credit unions. Smaller credit unions confronted a shift in technology that increased the minimum cost required to produce given amounts of output. All but the largest credit unions also became less scale efficient over time.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:1:p:75-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2012.08.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426612002257
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2012.08.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Léopold Simar & Paul Wilson, 2000. "Statistical Inference in Nonparametric Frontier Models: The State of the Art," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 49-78, January.
    3. Simar, Léopold & Vanhems, Anne, 2012. "Probabilistic characterization of directional distances and their robust versions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(2), pages 342-354.
    4. James A. Wilcox, 2006. "Performance divergence of large and small credit unions," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue aug4.
    5. Kneip, Alois & Simar, Léopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2008. "Asymptotics And Consistent Bootstraps For Dea Estimators In Nonparametric Frontier Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(6), pages 1663-1697, December.
    6. Portela, Maria C.A.S. & Thanassoulis, Emmanuel, 2010. "Malmquist-type indices in the presence of negative data: An application to bank branches," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1472-1483, July.
    7. Ben S. Bernanke, 2006. "Community banking and community bank supervision," Speech 176, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    8. Wheelock, David C. & Wilson, Paul W., 2009. "Robust Nonparametric Quantile Estimation of Efficiency and Productivity Change in U.S. Commercial Banking, 1985–2004," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27(3), pages 354-368.
    9. Goddard, John & McKillop, Donal & Wilson, John O.S., 2008. "The diversification and financial performance of US credit unions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1836-1849, September.
    10. Wheelock, David C. & Wilson, Paul W., 2001. "New evidence on returns to scale and product mix among U.S. commercial banks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 653-674, June.
    11. Cinzia Daraio & Léopold Simar, 2005. "Introducing Environmental Variables in Nonparametric Frontier Models: a Probabilistic Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 93-121, September.
    12. Fried, Harold O. & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Eeckaut, Philippe Vanden, 1993. "Evaluating the performance of US credit unions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 251-265, April.
    13. repec:bla:scandj:v:94:y:1992:i:0:p:s211-28 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Alam, Ila M Semenick, 2001. "A Nonparametric Approach for Assessing Productivity Dynamics of Large U.S. Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(1), pages 121-139, February.
    15. Smith, Donald J & Cargill, Thomas F & Meyer, Robert A, 1981. "An Economic Theory of a Credit Union," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(2), pages 519-528, May.
    16. Bauer, Keldon J. & Miles, Linda L. & Nishikawa, Takeshi, 2009. "The effect of mergers on credit union performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2267-2274, December.
    17. William R. Emmons & Frank A. Schmid, 1999. "Wages and risk-taking in occupational credit unions: theory and evidence," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Mar, pages 13-32.
    18. Berger, Allen N, 2003. "The Economic Effects of Technological Progress: Evidence from the Banking Industry," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 141-176, April.
    19. Wheelock, David C. & Wilson, Paul W., 2008. "Non-parametric, unconditional quantile estimation for efficiency analysis with an application to Federal Reserve check processing operations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 209-225, July.
    20. 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.
    21. 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.
    22. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    23. R. G. Chambers & Y. Chung & R. Färe, 1998. "Profit, Directional Distance Functions, and Nerlovian Efficiency," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 351-364, August.
    24. Leggett, Keith J. & Strand, Robert W., 2002. "Membership growth, multiple membership groups and agency control at credit unions," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 37-46.
    25. Aragon, Y. & Daouia, A. & Thomas-Agnan, C., 2005. "Nonparametric Frontier Estimation: A Conditional Quantile-Based Approach," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 358-389, April.
    26. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Yaisawarng, Suthathip, 1999. "The impact of mergers on credit union service provision," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 367-386, February.
    27. William R. Emmons & Frank A. Schmid, 1999. "Credit unions and the common bond," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 81(Sep), pages 41-64.
    28. Smith, Donald J, 1984. "A Theoretic Framework for the Analysis of Credit Union Decision Making," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1155-1168, September.
    29. W Scott Frame & Gordon V Karels & Christine A McClatchey, 2003. "Do credit unions use their tax advantage to benefit members? Evidence from a cost function," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 35-47.
    30. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2003. "Robust nonparametric estimation of efficiency and technical change in U.S. commercial banking," Working Papers 2003-037, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    31. McAllister, Patrick H. & McManus, Douglas, 1993. "Resolving the scale efficiency puzzle in banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 389-405, April.
    32. Goddard, John A. & McKillop, Donal G. & Wilson, John O. S., 2002. "The growth of US credit unions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(12), pages 2327-2356.
    33. Daouia, Abdelaati & Simar, Leopold, 2007. "Nonparametric efficiency analysis: A multivariate conditional quantile approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 375-400, October.
    34. Tim Coelli & Denis Lawrence (ed.), 2006. "Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3801.
    35. Cazals, Catherine & Florens, Jean-Pierre & Simar, Leopold, 2002. "Nonparametric frontier estimation: a robust approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 1-25, January.
    36. Bauer, Keldon, 2008. "Detecting abnormal credit union performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 573-586, April.
    37. Chambers, Robert G. & Chung, Yangho & Fare, Rolf, 1996. "Benefit and Distance Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 407-419, August.
    38. John R. Walter, 2006. "Not your father's credit union," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 92(Fall), pages 353-377.
    39. Park, B.U. & Jeong, S.-O. & Simar, L., 2010. "Asymptotic distribution of conical-hull estimators of directional edges," LIDAM Reprints ISBA 2010025, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    40. Ball, E. & Fare, R. & Grosskopf, S. & Zaim, O., 2005. "Accounting for externalities in the measurement of productivity growth: the Malmquist cost productivity measure," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 374-394, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gregory McKee & Albert Kagan, 2019. "The differential impact of the Dodd–Frank Act on niche non-metro lenders," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(4), pages 291-301, December.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, 2021. "Banking research in the time of COVID-19," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Xia, X.H. & Chen, Y.B. & Li, J.S. & Tasawar, H. & Alsaedi, A. & Chen, G.Q., 2014. "Energy regulation in China: Objective selection, potential assessment and responsibility sharing by partial frontier analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 292-302.
    5. Goddard, John & McKillop, Donal G. & Wilson, John O.S., 2023. "Who consumes the credit union subsidies?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Francisco Javier Sáez-Fernández & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo & Mercedes Beltrán-Esteve & Caroline Elliott, 2015. "Assessing the performance of the Latin American and Caribbean banking industry: Are domestic and foreign banks so different?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1006976-100, December.
    9. Kui Du, 2018. "Complacency, capabilities, and institutional pressure: understanding financial institutions’ participation in the nascent mobile payments ecosystem," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 28(3), pages 307-319, August.
    10. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2015. "Statistical Approaches for Non-parametric Frontier Models: A Guided Tour," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 83(1), pages 77-110, April.
    11. 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.
    12. Theo Benos & Nikos Kalogeras & Martin Wetzels & Ko De Ruyter & Joost M. E. Pennings, 2018. "Harnessing a ‘Currency Matrix’ for Performance Measurement in Cooperatives: A Multi-Phased Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-38, December.
    13. Dai, Sheng & Kuosmanen, Timo & Zhou, Xun, 2023. "Generalized quantile and expectile properties for shape constrained nonparametric estimation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(2), pages 914-927.
    14. Yamori, Nobuyoshi & Harimaya, Kozo & Tomimura, Kei, 2017. "The efficiency of Japanese financial cooperatives: An application of parametric distance functions," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 43-53.
    15. Mei-Ying Huang & Jia-Ching Juo & Tsu-tan Fu, 2015. "Metafrontier cost Malmquist productivity index: an application to Taiwanese and Chinese commercial banks," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 321-335, December.
    16. Lin, Yu-Hui & Fu, Tsu-Tan & Chen, Chia-Li & Juo, Jia-Ching, 2017. "Non-radial cost Luenberger productivity indicator," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(2), pages 629-639.

    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. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2009. "Robust, dynamic nonparametric benchmarking: the evolution of cost-productivity and efficiency among U.S. credit unions," Working Papers 2009-008, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Abdelaati Daouia & Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2017. "Measuring firm performance using nonparametric quantile-type distances," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1-3), pages 156-181, March.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Javier Gómez‐Biscarri & Germán López‐Espinosa & Andrés Mesa‐Toro, 2022. "Drivers of depositor discipline in credit unions," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(4), pages 849-885, December.
    8. 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.
    9. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2015. "Statistical Approaches for Non-parametric Frontier Models: A Guided Tour," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 83(1), pages 77-110, April.
    10. 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).
    11. Kevork, Ilias S. & Pange, Jenny & Tzeremes, Panayiotis & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2017. "Estimating Malmquist productivity indexes using probabilistic directional distances: An application to the European banking sector," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1125-1140.
    12. Caitlin O’Loughlin & Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2023. "Methodologies for assessing government efficiency," Chapters, in: António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio (ed.), Handbook on Public Sector Efficiency, chapter 4, pages 72-101, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Cinzia Daraio & Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2020. "Fast and efficient computation of directional distance estimators," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(2), pages 805-835, May.
    14. Geoffrey Rubin & George Overstreet & Peter Beling & Kanshukan Rajaratnam, 2013. "A dynamic theory of the credit union," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 205(1), pages 29-53, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Ghulam, Yaseen & Jaffry, Shabbar, 2015. "Efficiency and productivity of the cement industry: Pakistani experience of deregulation and privatisation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 101-115.
    17. Saulo Cardoso Maia & Gideon Carvalho Benedicto & José Willer Prado & David Alastair Robb & Oscar Neto Almeida Bispo & Mozar José Brito, 2019. "Mapping the literature on credit unions: a bibliometric investigation grounded in Scopus and Web of Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(3), pages 929-960, September.
    18. Amir Moradi-Motlagh & Ali Emrouznejad, 2022. "The origins and development of statistical approaches in non-parametric frontier models: a survey of the first two decades of scholarly literature (1998–2020)," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 318(1), pages 713-741, November.
    19. David L. Stowe & John D. Stowe, 2018. "Credit union business models," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 169-186, December.
    20. Wilson, Paul W., 2018. "Dimension reduction in nonparametric models of production," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 349-367.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Efficiency; Productivity; Quantile estimation; Credit unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

    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:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:1:p:75-88. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbf .

    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.