The objective of this article is 2-fold. First, it provides an empirical assessment of the cost and profit stochastic frontiers based on a panel dataset of Greek commercial banks over the period 1993 to 2005. Second, on the basis of the same sample, it also compares the most widely used...

The European banking industry is undergoing significant structural changes and cost-cutting programs, also as a result of the financial crisis. Yet, the institutional features that affect banks’ ability to adjust costs and in particular personnel expenses, which comprise a significant part of...

This paper employs a specification of a quadratic loss function based on forward looking rational expectations to model the underlying dynamics of efficiency scores in the banking industry of eleven Central and Eastern European countries over the period 1998-2005. Results show that there is...

The European banking industry is undergoing significant structural changes and cost-cutting programs, also as a result of the financial crisis. Yet, the institutional features that affect banks’ ability to adjust costs and in particular personnel expenses, which comprise a significant part of...

This paper provides empirical evidence that sheds new light into the dynamic interactions between risk and efficiency, a highly debated issue in the literature. Using a large panel data set that includes 251 listed banks operating in the enlarged European Union over the period 1998 to 2006 this...

We employ the stochastic frontier methodology and estimate alternative profit efficiency in the banking industry of four new European Union Member States, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic, over the period 1999-2003. Our results show that structural reforms in...

Despite the plethora of efficiency studies in the banking literature, there is no consensus on the preferred approach for the empirical estimation of the frontier (production, cost, profit etc.) of fully efficient firms. The present paper aims to provide an overview of this promising alternative...