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A Series of Occasional Papers in Draft Form Prepared by Members'o

THE EFFECT OF HOLDING COMPANY AFFILIATION
UPON THE SCALE ECONOMIES OF BANKS
Dale S. Drum

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Research Paper No. 79-2
(Revised version of No. 78-3)

THE EFFECT OF HOLDING COMPANY AFFILIATION
UPON THE SCALE ECONOMIES OF BANKS

by

Dale S . Drum
Department of Research
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The views expressed herein are the author’s and as such do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago or the Federal
Reserve System. The material contained is of a preliminary nature, is
circulated to stimulate discussion, and is not to be quoted without
permission of the author.




THE EFFECT OF HOLDING COMPANY AFFILIATION
UPON THE SCALE ECONOMIES OF BANKS*

While bank holding companies have existed for nearly a century,
only in the past two and one-half decades has the extent and nature of
their regulation become one of the most controversial issues within
the banking sector.

With the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act

of 1956, and the subsequent amendments in 1966 and 1970, increasing
cognizance has been taken of this form of business organization by
regulators and legislators, both state and federal.

Increasing concern

is being expressed in both the public and private sectors regarding
the impact bank holding companies (BHCs) have upon bank structure,
conduct, and performance.
The Bank Holding Company Act and its amendments establish the
parameters within which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System evaluates requests either to establish a holding company or to
permit existing holding companies to acquire one or more banks.

The

principal competitive concern relates to the probable effect that an
acquisition or formation will have upon competition in any relevant
banking market.

Applications involving adverse competitive effects

are denied by the Board unless there is evidence of sufficient public
benefits to outweigh the adverse competitive effects.

*The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments of Donald
D. Hester of the University of Wisconsin— Madison, and David Allardice,
Chayim Herzig-Marx, Larry Mote, and Randall Merris of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago.




-2-

This proviso has stimulated a number of research efforts examining
the performance of BHCs and their affiliated banks.

One of the more

frequently studied questions is the effect BHCs have upon the costs of
their affiliates.

In support of an acquisition, holding companies

frequently argue that through affiliation some type of economies in
the operation of the acquired bank can be achieved.

This may reflect

the adoption of new technologies or new organizational methods for the
acquired firm.

If operating economies do result and can be passed on

to the public, then it may be argued that the resulting public benefits
are substantial enough to offset, in part or perhaps in whole, any anti­
competitive effects inherent in the application.

While this argument

is frequently presented by holding company applicants, it is less
frequently supported by relevant data.

Thus, it is the purpose of

this paper to explore further the impact of the holding company form
of organization upon the costs of production of affiliate banks.

Methodology
The theoretical basis for this study rests upon the proposition
that the cost function of a cost minimizing competitive firm is the
mirror image of its production function [18, 22, 24].

Thus, if in­

creasing returns to scale characterize the production function, econo­
mies of scale should be reflected in the cost function.

In order to

avoid spurious results, however, it is necessary to specify correctly
the cost-output relationship and to measure both cost and output
properly.




-

3-

Three basic approaches have been taken to the study of cost
functions in banking.

Early studies tended to use an unweighted stock

as the measure of bank output— for example, Gramley’s use of total
assets [8 ].

Using this sort of measure assumes that the bank produces

only one type of output and ignores the multiproduct nature of the
banking enterprise.
To remedy this difficulty, more recent analyses have emphasized
two other approaches.

The first is to assume an independent production

function (and thus cost function) for each of the different activities
performed by banks.

This approach has been taken by Bell and Murphy

[1], Benston [2], Longbrake and Haslem [14], and Mullineaux [16, 17].
The main criticism of this approach is that it assumes the production
functions for the various bank activities are technologically indepen­
dent and, as a consequence, (seemingly) defines banking activities too
narrowly.
The other approach, taken by Greenbaum [9], Powers [20], Schweit­
zer [21], and Kalish and Gilbert [13], is to build a weighted index of
bank output utilizing items from both the income statement and the
balance sheet to produce an estimate of bank output.

The regression

coefficients obtained by regressing loan revenue against a number of
loan categories are viewed as interest rate approximations.

These

are then used to weight the corresponding loan categories to construct
an index of total bank output.
ployed in the present study.




It is this methodology which is em­

-4-

The Present Study
Cross-sectional analysis is used to test the equality of the cost
functions of independent and affiliated banks.

The sample is comprised

of 208 Seventh Federal Reserve District commercial banks participating
in the Federal Reserve System’s Functional Cost Analysis Program in
1976.

Data are taken from the individual bank’s Report of Income and

Report of Condition for the year 1976.

Characteristics of the sample

and the subgroups are described in Table I.
Estimating loan revenue.

Bank output is defined as estimated loan

revenue for a competitive bank plus revenue from securities plus
revenue from other sources.^

Similar to the definition employed by

others [9, 13, 20, 21], the first step in estimating loan revenue is to
establish index weights for the different loan categories in a bank’s
portfolio.

This is accomplished by deriving a regression equation

predicated upon the accounting identity,
n
LNREV = E r.L.
(1)
i=i1 1
where LNREV is loan revenue, the r^'s are the interest rates for each
loan category, and n is the total number of loan categories.
The objective, however, is to approximate a competitive return as
closely as possible.

To do so requires the inclusion of those factors

hypothesized to cause rates to vary among banks.

The following struc­

tural factors are selected for inclusion in the estimating equation:

Revenue from other sources includes such things as interest on
balances with other banks, income from direct lease financing, and
trust department income.







TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF BANK SAMPLE
A
Number
Range-Total Assetsa
Mean-Total Assetsa
SMSA
MBHC
OBHC
Range-Lending Output3

28
5.6/24.9
16.680
10
2
2
.26/1.65

B
47
25/49.9
36.234
24
6
4
1.7/3.7

aMeasured in millions of dollars.

c
78
50/99.9
71.016
36
10
15
3.1/6.7

D
34
100/199.9
145.308
28
6
6
6.2/13.0

E
21
200/635.1
345.847
21
9
6
13.0/44.9

TOTAL
208
5.6/635.1
95.73
119
33
33
.26/44.9

-6-

Numbers Equivalent (NE) - The inverse of the Herfindahl Index,
such that larger numbers imply lower concentration in a
market. The relevant market for the purpose of this study
is the SMSA if applicable, the county otherwise. While not
ideal as a definition, there is ample precedent for its usage.
If market concentration is a factor, loan revenue should be
negatively related to NE (-).
Growth (GRO) - Defined as the percentage change in total assets
from 1975 to 1976. No sign is hypothesized for this variable
Appending these variables to the loan revenue accounting identity,
equation (1), the competititve loan revenue equation to be estimated is:
n *
LNREV = a + I r.L. + b-,NE + b 9GR0 + y
(2 )
i=l 1 1
1
2
where n = 16 and the r^’s are estimates of the gross yields on the
elements in the bank’s loan portfolio.

2

Recognizing the wide range in the sizes of the banks in the sample,
this equation was tested for heteroskedasticity.

The most likely cause

of heteroskedasticity is the size dispersion of the banks in the sample,
which was preliminarily substantiated by an analysis of the residual
plot.

The Goldfeld-Quandt test was performed by sorting the sample into

ascending order according to asset size and then dividing it into three
groups:
tively).

small, medium, and large (76, 56, and 83 observations, respec­
Comparing the adjusted error sum of squares for the large

group with the adjusted error sum of squares for the small group,
heteroskedasticity was found to be present (F = 11.996).
The finding of heteroskedasticity in the residuals indicates that
this equation is not an efficient estimator of the regression coefficients
and must be respecified.

Since bank size appears to be the cause of the

misspecification, the remedy chosen is to deflate all variables in
equation (2) by total assets.

Thus the general form of the normalized

Some loan categories, as noted in Table II, were combined because
they comprised a very small proportion of the balance sheet.




-7-

equation to be estimated becomes:
16 A
LNREV/TA - a(1.0/TA) + Z r,(L,/TA) + b,(NE/TA) + b,(GRO/TA) + e
i=l
1
*
requiring the reciprocal of total assets (1.0/TA) be included in the
new equation with the dependent variable being interpreted as loan
revenue per dollar of total assets.
Reciprocal of Total Assets (1.0/TA) - There seems to be agreement
that larger banks tend to make larger loans at lower interest
rates. If so, this variable should be positively related to
loan revenue per dollar of assets (+).
Since total assets is not specified as an independent variable in
equation (2), Ta ’ becames the coefficient of the reciprocal of total
assets and there is no intercept term in equation (3).

Total assets

was considered as an explanatory variables in equation (2) but rejected
as it could be collinear with a number of the loan portfolio components
resulting in unreliable estimates of their coefficients.

When tested

for heteroskedasticity, equation (3) showed no evidence of this
problem (F = .320).
Estimates for the competitive yields on sixteen loan categories
are found in Table II.

Most have high t-statistics and seem to be

reasonable estimates, with the exception of the rate on mobile home
loans which appears lower than one might expect.

The years 1974, 1975,

and 1976 were, however, marked by rather high delinquency and default
rates on this type of loan, a fact that could explain at least in part
the small size of this coefficient.
The structure variables GRO and the reciprocal of total assets
both enter the equation with the expected sign, the former being
significant at the .01 level (two-tail test) and the latter being
significant at the .05 level (one-tail test).




(3)

-

8-

The concentration variable, numbers equivalent (NE), included to
represent a summary measure of concentration taking account of both the
number and size distribution of the firms, has the expected sign but is
not statistically significant.

Alternative specifications were tried

using the Herfindahl Index and also the market share held by each bank.
In both cases these variables had the predicted sign, but were not
statistically significant.
Estimating loan revenue.

The procedure for the calculation of the

loan revenue for each bank is predicated on the rearrangement of the
16 terms in equation (3) to solve for the expression E r.L.. Since the
16 . i=l 1
adjustment is not entirely straightforward, E r.*L. is substituted for
16 .
i-1 1 1
E r.L as the amount of loan revenue per bank to be included as part of
i=l 1 1
bank output.
16 *
l ri*L±

= (LNREV^/TA _.)TA_. - a(l. 0/TA JTA.. -

where j = 1,...,208.

(GRO/TAj)TA^

(4)

Numbers Equivalent (NE) is omitted from the adjust­

ment since its coefficient is not significantly different from zero.
Calculating bank output. As indicated earlier, bank output,
16 ~
(OUTPUT), is defined as the summation of the three items: E r.*L., the
1=1 1

1

calculated loan revenue for each bank, plus the revenue from securities
3
(SECREV), plus the revenue from other sources (OTHREV).

Revenue from

securities is assumed to be determined in a nearly competitive market,
while the components of OTHREV individually comprise a very small per­
centage of total bank output.

Although there could be some monopoly

influences operating in these components, the complexities and problems
involved in accounting for this influence are prohibitive.

Thus, bank

output is viewed as the value of credit extended plus the value of other
services performed by the bank.

^For the definition of OTHREV, see footnote 1.




-9-

The Model
The form of the model selected here as the mode of investigation
is a cost function of the Cobb-Douglas type.

In its logarithmic form

this function has a long history of successful application in the
empirical analysis of the cost and production relationships of firms
in a wide variety of industries.

This equation takes the general

form:
tc - k q1/nra/nw e/n
where k = n(aaag^)

(5)

q = output, r and w are the prices of two

different inputs, and n = a + g.

When converted to logarithms equation

(5) becomes:
TC = K + (l/n)Q + (a/n)R + (£/n)W

(6)

where the capital letters denote the logarithms of the lower case
4
letters in equation (5).

It has been shown by Shephard and Uzawa

that there is a unique relationship between the cost function as
estimated here and its underlying production function; namely, these
are two different, but equivalent ways of looking at the same thing.
Two conditions must be met, however.

Cost minimization on the part of

the firm must be assumed and the prices of the inputs must be included
in the cost function.
There are several advantages to the Cobb-Douglas specification of4

4
Nerlove [18, p. 107]. The derivation of the cost function from
the production function has had wide exposure in a large variety of
literature; consequently this derivation will not be presented here.
See, among others, Bell and Murphy II], Nerlove [18], or Wallis [25].




-10-

the cost function.

First, it is log-linear with respect to output and

the input prices, so that the coefficients can be interpreted as
elasticities, although a disadvantage is that these coefficients are
constant over the range of observations of the sample.

Second, this

functional form can accommodate increasing, decreasing, or constant
costs and often, erroneously, an estimate of the degree of homogeneity
of the production function (returns to scale) is derived by taking the
reciprocal of the coefficient of the output variable.^

Last, this form

also tends to reduce heteroskedasticity in the data.
Cost of loan output.

The definition of the dependent variable,

the cost of loan output (CLO), for the banks as employed in this study
is the same as that used by Schweitzer [21], namely, the "bank’s total
operating expenses, less service and exchange charges on deposit
accounts" (p. 259).

These charges are a reimbursement of the costs

incurred in acquiring one of the inputs (demand deposits), and repre­
sent an approximation, although admittedly a deficient approximation,
of the costs incurred by the bank in clearing checks.

To the extent

clearing costs actually exceed these charges, they should be included
in the cost of loan output.

While this definition can be criticized,

It is frequently stated that the reciprocal of the coefficient
of the output term represents the degree of homogeneity of the pro­
duction function. For example, an output coefficient of .944 supposedly
implies a production function homogeneous of degree 1.059. If the
error term, e, has a log-normal distribution, and the usual assump­
tions about the error term are made, the regression coefficients are
unbiased, efficient, and consistent. Taking the reciprocal of the
regression coefficient, however, involves a non-linear operation which
does not result in an unbiased estimate of n since E(l/b) does not
equal 1/E(b). See Wallis [25].




-li­

the alternatives appear less desirable.
Independent variables.

The output variable (OUTPUT) is defined

and calculated in the previous section.

Several other variables are

hypothesized to play a role in determining bank costs.

As indicated,

the prices of inputs must be included to maintain the unique relation­
ship between the cost function and the production function, despite the
fact that their inclusion in other studies has not shown them to have a
significant impact.

Unfortunately, the prices of only two inputs, time

and savings deposits and labor, could be approximated with any degree of
accuracy.
Price of Time Deposits (PRIDEP) - Calculated by dividing total
interest paid on time and savings deposits by total time and
savings deposits. The average rate of interest should
be positively related to the cost of loan output (+).
Price of Labor (WAGE) - Calculated by dividing total salaries by
the number of employees. This variable should also be
positively related to the cost of loan output (+).
Because no estimate of nor proxy for the price of capital could be
found, it is assumed constant over the sample of banks.
Another factor considered potentially important in influencing
bank costs is whether the bank is located in an SMSA:
SHSA - An intercept dummy with a value of 1 if the bank is in an
SMSA, 0 otherwise. If competition is greater in SMSAs than
in non-SMSAs, banks located in SMSAs may be required to make
larger expenditures for advertising or they may be required
to offer more services, or both. This variable should be
positively related to total cost (_+).
Of the 208 banks included in this study, 66 are affiliated with
a bank holding company; thirty-three are owned by one-bank holding
companies (OBHC) and a like number are subsidiaries of multibank holding




-12-

companies (MBHC).

As there is no a priori reason to anticipate that

similar traits will characterize both types of affiliates, the sample
is grouped by the form of organizational structure:

independent, OBHC

affiliates, and MBHC affiliates.
To test whether the organizational form has any impact upon the
scale economies of the individual bank, a multiplicative dummy variable
is introduced for each type of holding company affiliate.

OBHCD =

(OUTPUT • D) where D takes on a value of 1.0 for affiliates of onebank holding companies and zero otherwise and MBHCD = (OUTPUT • D)
where D takes on a value of 1.0 for multibank affiliates and zero
otherwise.

Consequently, the coefficient of the output term (OUTPUT)

represents the elasticity of cost with respect to output for independent
banks.

The coefficients of these multiplicative dummy variables measure

the magnitudes of the differential scale effects attributable to the
different organizational forms.
In addition, the coefficient of either slope dummy can be combined
linearly with the coefficient of the output variable.

A t-test can

then be performed on the resultant coefficient to determine if it is'
significantly different from unity, thereby implying economies or
diseconomies of scale.

The significance test for a linear combination of the regression
coefficients takes the form:

s w* (X'X)"^
with w Tb representing the sum or difference of the two coefficients
under consideration. In this instance the null hypothesis is that
W q = unity, subject to a two-tail test. See Theil [23, p. 138].




-13-

The final factor taken into account is the impact of branching upon
the costs of the individual bank.
BR^ -

Five intercept dummy variables with a value 1 for each
branch up to five with BR^ representing five or more
branches. Branch offices should increase the cost of
operations for the individual bank through increased
overhead and problems that arise coordinating the
operations of multiple offices. This variable should
be positively related to total cost (+).^

The cost function thus takes the form,
log CLO = a + b-^log OUTPUT + b2log PRIDEP + b3log WAGE + b ^ M S A
+ b5MBHCD + b6OBHCD + byBRl + bgBR2 + bgBR3 + b1()BR4
+ bj^BR^ + e

with a = log 1a f and incorporating the prices of all omitted factors of
production.

The regression coefficients represent elasticities and the

error term, e, is assumed to be independent and normally distributed with
2
a mean of zero and a constant variance, a .

The Results
The regression results for the total sample and for the five
subsamples are presented in Table III and Table IV.

The adjusted

coefficients of determination suggests that for the entire sample and
the subgroups both specifications do a good job in explaining the
variation in total cost.

The following discussion will center around

Table III and will first focus upon the total group and then upon the
subgroups.

An alternative specification is to include only one intercept dummy
variable with a value of 1 if the bank has branches, 0 otherwise. These
regression results are shown in Table IV. As can be seen, alternative
specification does result in some change in the other variables, but does
not alter the basic conclusions.




-14-

The Total Sample*

The overall equation gives evidence that there

are statistically significant, but not substantial, economies of scale
accruing to independent banks over the range of observations• The
scale coefficient of .944 implies that there are increasing returns to
scale for the production function.

The equation also suggests that

banks located in SMSAs tend to incur higher costs than non-SMSA banks.
As indicated, this could be due to greater competition necessitating
greater advertising, more (free) services or both.
Examination of the branching dummies indicate that banks with three
or more branches tend to have higher costs than banks with fewer than
three branches.

The branching dummy in Table IV suggests, however,

that banks with branches, in general, have higher costs than do banks
without branches.
Since the coefficient of the multiplicative output dummy variable,
MBHCD, is positive and significantly different from zero (although mar­
ginal at the 10 per cent level), it appears that banks belonging to
multibank organizations have a smaller degree of scale economies than do
independent banks.

When the coefficients of OUTPUT and MBHCD are com­

bined linearly (.944 + .015 = .959), the resulting coefficient is signi­
ficantly different from unity (t = 4.074).

This means that multibank

affiliates, for the total sample, are characterized by decreasing costs
but the scale coefficient is closer to unity than that of independent
banks.
In contrast, the multiplicative dummy representing one-bank affiliates
is not significantly different from zero, but the test on the linear
combination of the coefficients of OUTPUT + OBHCD (.944 + .003 = .947)
indicates the resultant coefficient is significantly different from unity



-15-

(t = 4.291).

One-bank affiliates, therefore, share the same production

function as independent banks.
Small and Medium Small Banks.
to scale seem to prevail.

For Groups A and B, constant returns

Representing output up to approximately $3.7

million and assets up to $50.0 million, the scale coefficient of neither
group of banks is significantly different from unity.

Also, neither of

the dummy output variables is significantly different from zero for
either group.

When the coefficient of the dummy output variables are

combined with the output coefficient and tested, none are found to be
statistically different from unity.

Thus the two smallest size classes

appear characterized by a cost function exhibiting constant costs,
regardless of organizational structure.
Medium Banks.
esting properties.

The medium size group, Group C, shows some inter­
The scale coefficient indicates that independent

banks are recipients of rather substantial scale economies with an
elasticity coefficient of .868 implying a production function char­
acterized by increasing returns.

Furthermore, the model indicates that

banks in this group located in SMSAs incur significantly higher costs
than do non-SMSA banks.
The coefficient of the output dummy for multibank affiliates, while
not significantly different from zero, is statistically different from
unity when combined linearly with the coefficient of OUTPUT (t = 2.460).
This indicates that multibank affiliates and independent banks in this
size class share the same production function.

The coefficient of

OBHCD, on the other hand, is statistically different from zero and when
combined with the output coefficient shows that one-bank affiliates
display greater scale economies than do independent banks (t = 3.394)




-16-

and thus do not share the same production function.
Medium Large Banks.

The regression results from the medium large

group, Group D, give evidence of some economies of scale accruing to
independent banks (.902) although less than that for medium size banks.
The production function is therefore subject to increasing returns.
With regard to the other explanatory variables the price of time
and savings deposits (PRIDEP) takes on statistical significance for
the first time and has the correct sign.

The dummy variable denoting

banks with five or more branches (BR^) is also statistically significant
and indicates that these banks tend to have higher costs.

In addition,

Table IV suggests that medium large banks with branches tend to
have higher costs overall.
Neither of the two output dummy coefficients is statistically
different from zero, but, when added to the output coefficient, both are
different from unity.

This indicates that multibank and one-bank affil­

iates have the same elasticity of cost with respect to output as do
independent banks (t = 1.915 and t = 1.778, respectively).
Large Banks.

The last group, Group E, represents banks larger than

$200 million in assets and $13 million in output.

These banks are

characterized by constant costs since the output scale coefficient is
not significantly different from unity.

As might be expected with banks

of this size* all are located in SMSAs and consequently this variable is
not included in the equation.
The branching dummies suggest that large banks with branches do not
incur higher costs until the number of branches is at least five, although
this is still not a statistically significant difference.

Once again,

however, the branching dummy in Table IV indicates that large banks with




-17-

branching systems have significantly higher costs than do large banks
without branching systems.

The reconciliation of these results is not

completely apparent.
The multiplicative dummy output variables, when combined with the
output variable for independent banks, are not significantly different
from unity.

Thus it appears that the production function is essentially

the same for all banks in this size class, regardless of whether they
are independent or affiliated with a one-bank or a multibank holding
company, and that this cost is characterized by constant costs.

Summary and Conclusions
Least squares estimates of the scale coefficients in this study
indicate that some moderate economies of scale are exhibited by inde­
pendent banks, but that these economies manifest themselves primarily in
the medium and medium large banks.
The more important question hinges on the impact of affiliation
upon the cost functions of banks and whether the introduction of scale
economies can be considered as a possible offset to any anticompetitive
consequences inherent in the acquisition of a bank or the formation of a
bank holding company.
This question rarely arises in the case of one-bank holding com­
panies, by their very nature.

Nevertheless, by way of recapitulation,

it appears that one-bank holding company affiliates do not, with a
single exception, have cost functions significantly different from those
of independent banks.

The exception is the case of medium size banks,

where affiliates exhibit greater scale economies. Since total operating
costs, as defined here, do not include taxes, this result cannot be




-18-

attributed to any tax advantage accruing from the holding company form
of organization.

It could be attributable to greater diversification or

specialization on the part of the holding company, but this assumes that
holding companies participate in a larger number of nonbank activities
than do independent banks.

8

For banks belonging to multibank holding companies the situation is
completely different.

The question of whether inherent anticompetitive

effects can be offset by scale economies takes on a premiere role.

The

evidence found here suggests that, overall, multibank affiliates
actually have a scale coefficient closer to unity than do the other two
organizational forms.

Medium and medium large affiliates in particular

exhibit scale economies but only to the degree as independent banks.

It

would thus appear that the often voiced argument that some economies of
scale can be achieved through affiliation which are not available to
independent banks is without foundation.

At best, the affiliate can

only expect to achieve the same degree of scale economies.
The concept of minimum optimal scale is a crucial one for microeconomic theory and for industrial organization in particular.

Analysis

of the subgroups presented in Table III indicates that long-run total
cost is increasing less than proportionately to output only in the
medium and medium large groups.

Since the output coefficients for these

two groups are approaching unity from below, and since the output coefficient
for the large group is not significantly different from unity, it appears

This assumption is not as obvious as it might first appear, since
national banks, and probably many state banks, can participate in nearly
all the nonbank activities that holding companies can, and some that
holding companies cannot. See [Drum].




-19-

that long-run average cost reaches, a minimum, and thus minimum optimal
scale is achieved, somewhere in the upper range of the medium large
group (i.e., around $200 million in assets).

This conclusion holds

regardless of the organizational form under consideration.
The estimate for the overall scale economies for unit banks is
quite similar to that found by both Bell and Murphy [1] and Schweitzer
[2l] and is close to that found by Mullineaux [17], although another
study by Mullineaux [15] found substantially greater scale economies.
Comparison of the subgroup results with other studies is not possible as
there are no other studies with comparable subgroups.
While the evidence here indicates that the cost curve for multibank
affiliates lies above that of unit banks, which is consistent with the
findings of Kalish and Gilbert [13], it contradicts, in part, the
findings of Schweitzer [21], who found that banks belonging to large
bank holding company groups incur lower costs than do independent banks.
Mullineaux [17] found that affiliation with a group increases the costs
of branch banks but leaves the costs of unit banks unchanged.
Last, whether a bank has a branching system or not appears to play
an important role in explaining the costs incurred by banks in general
and medium large and large banks in particular.

Since this coefficient

is positive in all cases, it indicates that there are some organiza­
tional diseconomies associated with branching, a finding consistent with
a number of other studies.

Since this sample is drawn from states

allowing only limited branching or limited service branching, this
conclusion cannot be extended for cases involving statewide branching.




-20-

TABLE II
ESTIMATE OF LOAN REVENUE EQUATION

1
Variable
Loans for Construction
Loans Secured by Farmland
Residential Real Estate Loans - Single
and Multi-Family, Insured
Residential Real Estate Loans - Single
and Multi-Family, Conventional
Nonfarm, Nonresidential Real Estate Loans
Loans to other Financial Institutions (Including
REIT and Mortgage Companies)
Loans to Farmers
Commercial and Industrial Loans
Automobile Loans
Loans for Credit Card and Revolving Credit Plans
Mobile Home Loans
Loans for Other Retail Consumer Goods
Loans for Repair and Modernization
Other Instalment Loans
Single-Payment Loans
All Other Loans^
Reciprocal of Total Assets
Growth
Number of Equivalent
-2
R
Standard Error
F
d.f.

Coefficient

t-Value

.0868
.0955

4.566
8.085

.0795

3.317

.0815
.0861

26.504
12.436

.0500
.0640
.0807
.0964
.1626
.0544
.1117
.0681
.0988
.0649
.0499

2.173
20.264
24.877
13.657
9.691
4.085
5.660
3.606
7.258
8.223
3.839

.0388
-.0005
-.0012

1.875
3.078
.480

.9957
.0029
2546.0
189

^All loan categories are taken as a percent of total assets.
2

Comprised of the categories: All Other Loans, Loans to Domestic Commercial
Banks, Loans to Banks in Foreign Countries, Loans to Brokers and
Dealers in Securities, and Loans for Purchasing and Carrying Securities.




-21TABLE III
ESTIMATED COST FUNCTION FOR ALL BANKS AND SUBGROUPS

Variables
Intercept

OUTPUT*

ALL
BANKS

GROUP
A

GROUP
B

GROUP
C

GROUP
D

GROUP
E

.009
(.105)

.175
(.547)

.084
(.272)

-.040
(.264)

-.188
(.799)

-.186
(.366)

.944
.861
(5.914)° (1.645)

1.021
(.236)

.868
(2.809) b

.902
(1.867)b

.938
(1.068)

PRIDEP

-.070
(.783)

-.153
(.576)

-.373
(1.011)

.176
(.942)

.212
(.770)

.179
(.324)

WAGE

-.008
(.199)

0.113
(.715)

.103
(.907)

-.080
(1.111)

.035
(.422)

.039
(.224)

SMSA

.019
(3.167)a

-.011
(.336)

.023
(1.459)

.028
(3.087)a

-.002
(.121)

MBHCD

.°15
(1.667;

.625
(1.574)

.039
(.590

.012
(.672)

.001
(.031)

.012
(.764)

OBHCD

.003
(.355)

-.859
(.929)

.089
(1.130)

-.°30
(1.962)b

-.002
(.137)

.005
(.289)

BR,
X

.011
(1.447)

br2

.003
(.266)

BR„

.°19
(1.907)b

BR,

.029
(2.166)b

—

BR

.035
(3.480)b

____

j

5

.021
(.540

.008
(.480)

.012
(1.007)

.010
(.733)

.053
(1.598)

.064
(1.448)

.007
(.285)

-.012
(.919)

.025
(1.038)

.019
(.426)

.064
(.835)

.010
(.356)

.020
(1.481)

.016
(1.112)

.002
(.047)

.049
(1.366)

.014
(.765)

.026
(1.327)

.023
(.608)

____

.024
(1.775)b

.039
(2.265)b

.035
(1.725)

R"

.990

.909

.784

.860

.930

.973

SEE

.038

.052

.045

.034

.024

.028

1887.2

31.0

17.7

44.0

40.6

73.8

18

36

66

22

10

F
d.f.

196

Significant at the .05 level (one-tail test).
^Significant at the .10 level (two-tail test).
cTested gainst the null hypothesis that b-^ = 1.0.

Figures in parentheses are t-ratios.


-22-

TABLE IV
ESTIMATED COST FUNCTION FOR ALL BANKS AND SUBGROUPS

GROUP
A

GROUP
B

GROUP
C

GROUP
D

GROUP
E

.020
(.239)

.185
(.757)

.021
(.075)

-.044
(.289)

-.301
(1.410)

-.391
(1.324)

.951
(5.291)

.869
(1.663)

1.033
(.412)

.878
(2.601)b

.904
(2.069)

.964
(.806)

PRIDEP

-.075
(.829)

-.154
(.695)

-.275
(.806)

.188
(1.019)

.404
(1.731)

.369
(1.080)

WAGE

-.020
(.477)

-.125
(.980)

.090
(.866)

-.093
(1.302)

.018
(.232)

.074
(.568)

SMSA

.019
(2.997)a

-.004
(.172)

.025
(1.604)

.030
(3.244)a

-.012
(.905)

MBHCD

.°16
(1.801)°

.642
(1.681)

.026
(.419)

.013
(.739)

-.001
(.108)

.003
(.205)

OBHCD

-.001
(.068)

-.834
(.958)

.086
(1.134)

-.032
(2.152)b

.002
(.152)

.005
(.362)

.015
(2.589)b

.041
(1.383)

.011
(.788)

.019
(2.141)

(2.265)

Variables
Intercept

OUTPUT*

BRANCH

ALL
BANKS

.011
(1.250)

-2
R

.990

.914

.793

.855

.943

.978

SEE

.038

.051

.044

.034

.023

.025

2892.8

42.2

26.2

65.8

68.1

149.6

20

39

70

26

F

d.f.

200

Significant at the .05 level (one-tail test).
Significant at the .10 level (two-tail test).
*Tested against the null hypothesis that
= 1.0.
Figures in parentheses are t-ratios.




14

-23-

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