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REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND IN POTENTIAL GAINS FROM CONSOLIDATION AMONG U.S. COMMERCIAL BANKS
Author(s) -
Hamid Shahid S.,
Verma Satyendra K.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1467-9787
pISSN - 0022-4146
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9787.1994.tb00874.x
Subject(s) - consolidation (business) , economies of scale , technological change , economics , returns to scale , business , economic geography , scale (ratio) , geography , macroeconomics , finance , production (economics) , microeconomics , cartography
. This paper investigates the regional variations in the impact of technological change and in gains from consolidation among U.S. commercial banks. We estimate a multiproduct translog cost function with the appropriate regional dummy variables. Technological change, ray scale economies and scale biases in technological change are estimated for each region. Furthermore, pairwise expansion path economies between all the regions are calculated to evaluate the potential gains from interregional consolidation. In general Southwest banks had the worst and Southeast the best technological change. There is substantial disparity across regions. It also appears that technological change increased the efficient size in the Midwest and Southwest regions and reduced it in the West, Northeast and Southeast. Banks in all regions show ray economies of scale, affirming the need for larger banks if output mix remains constant. Finally, the results support takeover of regional banks by the Money Center banks but not vice‐versa, and favor consolidation among regional banks. The biggest potential gains accrue from mergers of Southeast banks with either Midwest or Southwest banks and the least gains are derived from mergers between Midwest and Southwest banks.