IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgfe/2002-54.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Capital structure and firm performance: a new approach to testing agency theory and an application to the banking industry

Author

Listed:
  • Allen N. Berger
  • Emilia Bonaccorsi di Patti

Abstract

Corporate governance theory predicts that leverage affects agency costs and thereby influences firm performance. We propose a new approach to test this theory using profit efficiency, or how close a firm's profits are to the benchmark of a best-practice firm facing the same exogenous conditions. We are also the first to employ a simultaneous-equations model that accounts for reverse causality from performance to capital structure. We also control for measures of ownership structure in the tests. We find that data on the U.S. banking industry are consistent with the theory, and the results are statistically significant, economically significant, and robust.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen N. Berger & Emilia Bonaccorsi di Patti, 2002. "Capital structure and firm performance: a new approach to testing agency theory and an application to the banking industry," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-54, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2002-54
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2002/200254/200254abs.html
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2002/200254/200254pap.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Loretta J. Mester, 1989. "Testing for Expense Preference Behavior: Mutual versus Stock Savings and Loans," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(4), pages 483-498, Winter.
    2. A. Cole, Rebel & Mehran, Hamid, 1998. "The effect of changes in ownership structure on performance: Evidence from the thrift industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 291-317, December.
    3. Berger, Allen N, 1995. "The Relationship between Capital and Earnings in Banking," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(2), pages 432-456, May.
    4. Berger, Allen N. & DeYoung, Robert, 1997. "Problem loans and cost efficiency in commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 849-870, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Mitchell, Karlyn & Onvural, Nur M, 1996. "Economies of Scale and Scope at Large Commercial Banks: Evidence from the Fourier Flexible Functional Form," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(2), pages 178-199, May.
    7. Saunders, Anthony & Strock, Elizabeth & Travlos, Nickolaos G, 1990. "Ownership Structure, Deregulation, and Bank Risk Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 643-654, June.
    8. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    9. Sanford J. Grossman & Oliver D. Hart, 1982. "Corporate Financial Structure and Managerial Incentives," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Information and Uncertainty, pages 107-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    11. Kim, Moshe & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 1990. "Debt and Input Misallocation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 795-816, July.
    12. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1990. "Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 595-612, October.
    13. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    14. Demsetz, Harold & Lehn, Kenneth, 1985. "The Structure of Corporate Ownership: Causes and Consequences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(6), pages 1155-1177, December.
    15. Mester, Loretta J., 1993. "Efficiency in the savings and loan industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 267-286, April.
    16. DeYoung, Robert, 1997. "A diagnostic test for the distribution-free efficiency estimator: An example using U.S. commercial bank data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 243-249, April.
    17. Keeley, Michael C, 1990. "Deposit Insurance, Risk, and Market Power in Banking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1183-1200, December.
    18. Robert A. Eisenbeis & Simon H. Kwan, 1996. "An analysis of inefficiencies in banking: a stochastic cost frontier approach," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, pages 16-26.
    19. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1991. "The Theory of Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 297-355, March.
    20. 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.
    21. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    22. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1995. "The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 407-443.
    23. Stewart C. Myers, 2001. "Capital Structure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 81-102, Spring.
    24. Gorton, Gary & Rosen, Richard, 1995. "Corporate Control, Portfolio Choice, and the Decline of Banking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1377-1420, December.
    25. Berger, Allen N. & Herring, Richard J. & Szego, Giorgio P., 1995. "The role of capital in financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 393-430, June.
    26. 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.
    27. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1990. "Capital Structure and the Informational Role of Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 321-349, June.
    28. Mehran, Hamid, 1992. "Executive Incentive Plans, Corporate Control, and Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 539-560, December.
    29. 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.
    30. Himmelberg, Charles P. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Palia, Darius, 1999. "Understanding the determinants of managerial ownership and the link between ownership and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-384, September.
    31. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    32. Timothy H. Hannan & Ferdinand Mavinga, 1980. "Expense Preference and Managerial Control: the Case of the Banking Firm," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 11(2), pages 671-682, Autumn.
    33. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    34. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    35. Mehran, Hamid, 1995. "Executive compensation structure, ownership, and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 163-184, June.
    36. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    37. Hamid Mehran & Robert A. Taggart & David Yermack, 1999. "CEO Ownership, Leasing, and Debt Financing," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 28(2), Summer.
    38. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    39. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. 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.
    41. Pi, Lynn & Timme, Stephen G., 1993. "Corporate control and bank efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 515-530, April.
    42. Williams, Joseph T, 1987. "Perquisites, Risk, and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(1), pages 29-48, March.
    43. Stigler, George J, 1976. "The Xistence of X-Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(1), pages 213-216, March.
    44. DeYoung, Robert & Spong, Kenneth & Sullivan, Richard J., 2001. "Who's minding the store? Motivating and monitoring hired managers at small, closely held commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1209-1243, July.
    45. Randall Morck & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1986. "Management Ownership and Corporate Performance: An Empirical Analysis," NBER Working Papers 2055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1995. "Equity ownership and the two faces of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 131-157, 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. Margaritis, Dimitris & Psillaki, Maria, 2010. "Capital structure, equity ownership and firm performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 621-632, March.
    2. DeYoung, Robert & Spong, Kenneth & Sullivan, Richard J., 2001. "Who's minding the store? Motivating and monitoring hired managers at small, closely held commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1209-1243, July.
    3. Westman, Hanna, 2011. "The impact of management and board ownership on profitability in banks with different strategies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3300-3318.
    4. Joseph P. Hughes & Choon-Geol Moon & William W. Lang & Michael S. Pagano, 2001. "Managerial Incentives and the Efficiency of Capital Structure," Departmental Working Papers 200102, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    5. Ugur, Mehmet & Solomon, Edna & Zeynalov, Ayaz, 2022. "Leverage, competition and financial distress hazard: Implications for capital structure in the presence of agency costs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    6. Hanousek, Jan & Kočenda, Evžen & Shamshur, Anastasiya, 2015. "Corporate efficiency in Europe," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 24-40.
    7. 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.
    8. Timothy King & Jonathan Williams, 2013. "Bank Efficiency and Executive Compensation," Working Papers 13009, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    9. Saeed, Momna & Izzeldin, Marwan & Hassan, M. Kabir & Pappas, Vasileios, 2020. "The inter-temporal relationship between risk, capital and efficiency: The case of Islamic and conventional banks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. Williams, Jonathan, 2004. "Determining management behaviour in European banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2427-2460, October.
    11. Doocheol Moon & Kishore Tandon, 2007. "The influence of growth opportunities on the relationship between equity ownership and leverage," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 339-351, November.
    12. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 2012. "A primer on market discipline and governance of financial institutions for those in a state of shocked disbelief," Working Papers 12-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    13. Pablo de Andrés-Alonso & Valentín Azofra-Palenzuela & Juan A. Rodríguez-Sanz, 2000. "Endeudamiento, oportunidades de crecimiento y estructura contractual: un contraste empírico para el caso español," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 24(3), pages 641-679, September.
    14. Pablo de Andres Alonso & Felix J. Lopez Iturriaga & Juan A. Rodriguez Sanz, 2005. "Financial decisions and growth opportunities: a Spanish firm's panel data analysis," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 391-407.
    15. Ruben Arrondo & Silvia Gomez-Anson, 2003. "A study of Spanish firms' security issue decision under asymmetric information and agency costs," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(10), pages 771-782.
    16. Joseph P. Hughes & William W. Lang & Choon-Geol Moon & Michael S. Pagano, 2004. "Managerial Incentives and the Efficiency of Capital Structure in U.S. Commercial Banking," Departmental Working Papers 200401, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    17. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    18. Grzegorz Pawlina & Luc Renneboog, 2005. "Is Investment‐Cash Flow Sensitivity Caused by Agency Costs or Asymmetric Information? Evidence from the UK," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(4), pages 483-513, September.
    19. de Jong, A., 2001. "The Disciplining Role of Leverage in Dutch Firms," Other publications TiSEM 940ddf9b-7e19-460c-be52-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. de Jong, A., 2001. "The Disciplining Role of Leverage in Dutch Firms," Discussion Paper 2001-48, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bank capital; Capitalization; Banks and banking;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fip:fedgfe:2002-54. 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: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.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.