Banks were substantially deregulated during the 1980s. Interest costs rose faster than operating expenses (capital, labor) were reduced. As a result, measured technical change in banking was negative: it averaged -0.8% to -1.4% a year over 1977-88. Technical change was measured three different...

Bank scope economies have been derived from either the standard or generalized (Box-Cox) multiproduct translog (or other logarithmic) functional form. Reported results have ranged from strong economies to diseconomies and are far from conclusive. The problem is functional form. An alternative...