IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ufg/qdsems/12-2006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Risk Preference and Investments Quality as Determinants of Efficiency in the Italian Banking System

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Lopes
  • Luca Giordano

Abstract

The Italian banking system is characterized by deep efficiency inequality between banks operating in different regions, with northern banks that largely outperform the southern ones. Moreover the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans is significantly higher in the South than elsewhere. In view of these evidences we asked: is the effi ciency gap of the southern banks (and therefore their lower screening and monitoring ability) the primary source of their higher level of bad loans? Or is the poorer quality of the southern bank loans (due to the adverse macroeconomic environment) that causes lower efficiency? The results offer rather concrete evidence in favour of the hypothesis that is a lower managerial efficiency which causes an increase in non-performing loans, whereas the eects of exogenous environmental shocks are negligible. As a second point to investigate, we recognize that banks have different risk aversion which differently affects the choice of input vector and we expressly take into account the capitalization degree (as a buffer against the risk) in estimating the bank cost stochastic frontier.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Lopes & Luca Giordano, 2006. "Risk Preference and Investments Quality as Determinants of Efficiency in the Italian Banking System," Quaderni DSEMS 12-2006, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Matematiche e Statistiche, Universita' di Foggia.
  • Handle: RePEc:ufg:qdsems:12-2006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economia.unifg.it/sites/sd01/files/allegatiparagrafo/29-11-2016/q122006.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allen Berger & Iftekhar Hasan & Leora Klapper, 2004. "Further Evidence on the Link between Finance and Growth: An International Analysis of Community Banking and Economic Performance," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 169-202, April.
    2. Robert DeYoung & William Hunter & Gregory Udell, 2004. "The Past, Present, and Probable Future for Community Banks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 85-133, April.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Altunbas, Yener & Evans, Lynne & Molyneux, Philip, 2001. "Bank Ownership and Efficiency," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(4), pages 926-954, November.
    6. 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.
    7. Bonin, John P. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wachtel, Paul, 2005. "Bank performance, efficiency and ownership in transition countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 31-53, January.
    8. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    9. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, "undated". "Evidence on the Objectives of Bank Managers," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 4-94, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    10. Reifschneider, David & Stevenson, Rodney, 1991. "Systematic Departures from the Frontier: A Framework for the Analysis of Firm Inefficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(3), pages 715-723, August.
    11. 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.
    12. Joseph P. Hughes & Loretta J. Mester, 1994. "Bank managers' objectives," Working Papers 94-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    13. 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.
    14. Battese, George E. & Coelli, Tim J., 1988. "Prediction of firm-level technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production function and panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 387-399, July.
    15. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
    16. George E. Battese & Greg S. Corra, 1977. "Estimation Of A Production Frontier Model: With Application To The Pastoral Zone Of Eastern Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 21(3), pages 169-179, December.
    17. Berger, Allen N. & Hanweck, Gerald A. & Humphrey, David B., 1987. "Competitive viability in banking : Scale, scope, and product mix economies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 501-520, December.
    18. Riccardo LUCCHETTI & Luca PAPI & Alberto ZAZZARO, 1999. "Efficienza del sistema bancario e crescita economica nelle regioni italiane," Working Papers 121, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    19. Luca Giordano & Antonio Lopes, 2005. "Efficienza di Costo e Profitto nel Sistema Bancario Italiano (1994-2000). Rilevanza degli Aspetti Istituzionali, Geografici e Dimensionali nella Dinamica Evolutiva," Quaderni DSEMS 11-2005, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Matematiche e Statistiche, Universita' di Foggia.
    20. Shrieves, Ronald E. & Dahl, Drew, 1992. "The relationship between risk and capital in commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 439-457, April.
    21. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    22. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, Julien, 1977. "Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(2), pages 435-444, June.
    23. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2004_008 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Claudia Girardone & Philip Molyneux & Edward Gardener, 2004. "Analysing the determinants of bank efficiency: the case of Italian banks," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 215-227.
    25. Focarelli, Dario & Panetta, Fabio & Salleo, Carmelo, 2002. "Why Do Banks Merge?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(4), pages 1047-1066, November.
    26. David Carter & James McNulty & James Verbrugge, 2004. "Do Small Banks have an Advantage in Lending? An Examination of Risk-Adjusted Yields on Business Loans at Large and Small Banks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 233-252, April.
    27. Altunbas, Yener & Liu, Ming-Hau & Molyneux, Philip & Seth, Rama, 2000. "Efficiency and risk in Japanese banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1605-1628, October.
    28. Kodde, David A & Palm, Franz C, 1986. "Wald Criteria for Jointly Testing Equality and Inequality Restriction s," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(5), pages 1243-1248, September.
    29. Battese, George E. & Corra, Greg S., 1977. "Estimation Of A Production Frontier Model: With Application To The Pastoral Zone Of Eastern Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 21(3), pages 1-11, December.
    30. K. Kalirajan, 1981. "An Econometric Analysis of Yield Variability in Paddy Production," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 29(3), pages 283-294, November.
    31. Keane, Michael P & Runkle, David E, 1992. "On the Estimation of Panel-Data Models with Serial Correlation When Instruments Are Not Strictly Exogenous," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, January.
    32. 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.
    33. Simon Kwan & Robert A. Eisenbeis, 1995. "Bank Risk, Capitalization and Inefficiency," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 96-35, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    34. Hunter, William C & Timme, Stephen G, 1995. "Core Deposits and Physical Capital: A Reexamination of Bank Scale Economies and Efficiency with Quasi-Fixed Inputs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 165-185, February.
    35. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    36. Mester, Loretta J., 1996. "A study of bank efficiency taking into account risk-preferences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 1025-1045, July.
    37. Stevenson, Rodney E., 1980. "Likelihood functions for generalized stochastic frontier estimation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 57-66, May.
    38. Edwards, Franklin R, 1977. "Managerial Objectives in Regulated Industries: Expense-Preference Behavior in Banking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 147-162, February.
    39. Keane, Michael P & Runkle, David E, 1992. "On the Estimation of Panel-Data Models with Serial Correlation When Instruments Are Not Strictly Exogenous: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 10(1), pages 26-29, January.
    40. Mester, Loretta J, 1987. "A Multiproduct Cost Study of Savings and Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 423-445, June.
    41. Crespi, Rafel & Garcia-Cestona, Miguel A. & Salas, Vicente, 2004. "Governance mechanisms in Spanish banks. Does ownership matter?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2311-2330, October.
    42. Mayers, David & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1988. "Ownership Structure across Lines of Property-Casualty Insurance," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(2), pages 351-378, October.
    43. Bonaccorsi di Patti, Emilia & Hardy, Daniel C., 2005. "Financial sector liberalization, bank privatization, and efficiency: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(8-9), pages 2381-2406, August.
    44. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    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. C. Barra, 2014. "Local financial development and economic growth: an outlook on italian territorial data," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1-2, pages 187-216.

    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. Manlagnit, Maria Chelo V., 2015. "Basel regulations and banks’ efficiency: The case of the Philippines," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 72-85.
    2. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    3. Manlagñit, Maria Chelo V., 2011. "Cost efficiency, determinants, and risk preferences in banking: A case of stochastic frontier analysis in the Philippines," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 23-35, February.
    4. Williams, Jonathan, 2004. "Determining management behaviour in European banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2427-2460, October.
    5. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:96:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Mohanty, Sunil K. & Lin, Winston T. & Lin, Hong-Jen, 2013. "Measuring cost efficiency in presence of heteroskedasticity: The case of the banking industry in Taiwan," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 77-90.
    7. Mike G. Tsionas & Konstantinos N. Baltas, 2022. "On identifying risk-adjusted efficiency gains or losses of prospective mergers and acquisitions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 318(1), pages 619-683, November.
    8. C. Barra, 2014. "Local financial development and economic growth: an outlook on italian territorial data," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1-2, pages 187-216.
    9. Williams, Jonathan & Nguyen, Nghia, 2005. "Financial liberalisation, crisis, and restructuring: A comparative study of bank performance and bank governance in South East Asia," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(8-9), pages 2119-2154, August.
    10. Coelli, Tim J., 1995. "Recent Developments In Frontier Modelling And Efficiency Measurement," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(3), pages 1-27, December.
    11. Claudia Girardone & Philip Molyneux & Edward Gardener, 2004. "Analysing the determinants of bank efficiency: the case of Italian banks," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 215-227.
    12. Althaler, Karl S. & Slavova, Tatjana, 2000. "DEA Problems under Geometrical or Probability Uncertainties of Sample Data," Economics Series 89, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    13. Martín Rossi, 2015. "The Econometrics Approach to the Measurement of Efficiency: A Survey," Working Papers 117, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Feb 2015.
    14. Bos, J.W.B. & Schmiedel, H., 2007. "Is there a single frontier in a single European banking market?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 2081-2102, July.
    15. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, 2004. "Effects of Financial Capital on Colombian Banking Efficiency," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 22(47), pages 162-201, December.
    16. Hasan, Iftekhar & Marton, Katherin, 2003. "Development and efficiency of the banking sector in a transitional economy: Hungarian experience," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2249-2271, December.
    17. Franz R. Hahn, 2005. "Determinants of Bank Profitability in Austria. A Micro-Macro Approach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 25688, January.
    18. Zuzana Irsova & Tomas Havranek, 2011. "Bank Efficiency in Transitional Countries: Sensitivity to Stochastic Frontier Design," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 18(2), pages 230-270, December.
    19. Hakan Güneş & Dilem Yıldırım, 2016. "Estimating Cost Efficiency of Turkish Commercial Banks under Unobserved Heterogeneity with Stochastic Frontier Models," ERC Working Papers 1603, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Mar 2016.
    20. Reddy, Mahendra, 2002. "Implication of Tenancy Status on Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence from Fiji," Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics, Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), vol. 4, pages 1-20.
    21. Daniel Gropper & Steven Caudill & T. Beard, 1999. "Estimating Multiproduct Cost Functions Over Time Using a Mixture of Normals," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 201-218, June.

    More about this item

    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:ufg:qdsems:12-2006. 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: Luca Grilli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emsfoit.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.