This study examines the relative performance of Japanese cooperative banks between 1998 and 2009, explicitly modelling non-performing loans as an undesirable output. Three key findings emerge. First, the sector is characterized by increasing returns to scale which supports the ongoing...

Recent stock price movements have led to a re-examination of the present value model. Typically, empirical studies have employed a long span of US stock market index data, and have attributed a failure to detect cointegration to the presence of bubbles. This study considers UK firm-level data,...