A decade of econometric research has shown that X-efficiency dominates scale and scope as the drivers of inefficiency in the U.S. banking industry. However, this research falls short in explaining the causes of the high degree of X-efficiency in the industry. This paper summarizes a four-year...

The structure of European banking markets has substantially changed over the past decade, partially as a result of the creation of the Single Internal Market. The process of integration and accompanying deregulation has embodied an incentive for bank management to focus on improving efficiency,...