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Are Credit Unions Too Small?

Author

Listed:
  • 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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    References listed on IDEAS

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