Problem loans and cost efficiency in commercial banks
研究了问题贷款与成本效率之间的因果关系，发现问题贷款会导致成本效率下降，而成本效率下降也会预示问题贷款增加，对银行监管和风险管理有参考价值。
This paper addresses a little examined intersection between the problem loan literature and the bank efficiency literature. We employ Granger-causality techniques to test four hypotheses regarding the relationships among loan quality, cost efficiency, and bank capital. The data suggest that problem loans precede reductions in measured cost efficiency; that measured cost efficiency precedes reductions in problem loans; and the reductions in capital at thinly capitalized banks precede increases in problem loans. Hence, cost efficiency may be an important indicator of future problem loans and problem banks. Our results are ambiguous concerning whether or not researchers should control for problem loans in efficiency estimation.