Evidence on female firm leadership is scarce and often confined to a small number of firms included in share price indices. Our large firm level data set from 2011 contains 441287 firms from 14 EU states. Based on management information, we provide evidence for the extent and the performance of...

The stochastic frontier analysis (Aigner et al., 1977, Meeusen and van de Broeck, 1977)is widely used to estimate individual efficiency scores. The basic idea lies in the introductionof an additive error term consisting of a noise and an inefficiency term. Most oftenthe assumption of a...

The question of whether or not mergers and acquisitions have helped to enhancebanks’ efficiency and profitability has not yet been conclusively resolved in theliterature. We argue that this is partly due to the severe methodological problemsinvolved. In this study, we analyze the effect of...

The stochastic frontier analysis (Aigner et al., 1977, Meeusen and van de Broeck, 1977) is widely used to estimate individual efficiency scores. The basic idea lies in the introduction of an additive error term consisting of a noise and an inefficiency term. Most often the assumption of a...

Banks face a tradeoff between diversifying and focusing their loan portfolio. In this paper we carry out an empirical study for the German market to shed light on the question whether or not the benefits of risk sharing outweigh those of specialization. We use data from the Bundesbank's...