This is the first study to simultaneously estimate the influence of market power and efficiency on profitability of banks in a Pacific Island context. Two market power hypotheses — the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) and the Relative-Market-Power (RMP) hypotheses together with two measures...

This study fills a huge gap in literature by providing some evidence on the level and determinants of bank efficiency in a Pacific island context. DEA results show that overall efficiency levels may be lower than in Australia, the home country of major banks. Dynamic GMM and panel data results...

Studies on bank profitability vis-à-vis market power and efficiency span a number of years, many countries, regions and methods. Yet, the experiences of the Pacific's small states -- where foreign banks are widespread and bank profits relatively high -- remain unknown, leaving policy-makers...

This paper examines the changes in bank credit to private sector across six economies in the South Pacific. An extensive time-series and cross-country panel data allow us to draw new and broader lessons compared to existing research, which have tended to focus mostly on single countries with...