Indicators of banking efficiency: An international application

La economía intangible en España: Evolución y distribución por territorios y sectores (1995-2014)

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo estimar la inversión en activos intangibles más allá del PIB —es decir, aquellos que todavía no han sido incluidos por los sistemas de cuentas nacionales— para las comunidades autónomas españolas. De esta forma, España se convierte en el primer país de la Unión Europea para el que existe esta información a nivel regional. Las estimaciones presentan también un elevado grado de desagregación sectorial con la finalidad de completar las informaciones que ya están disponibles sobre las fuentes de crecimiento de las regiones españolas durante el periodo 1995-2014. Con el fin de proporcionar una visión lo más completa posible, tanto la base de datos co…

Joan Robinson: «In memoriam»

“A veces me he preguntado si me he quedado sola.” (J. R.) Ahora ya no hay duda de que la obsesión intelectual que persiguiera a J. Robinson a lo largo de su dilatada carrera no tiene más justificatión que la de ver agotarse —a destiempo, como siempre— las baterías de su propia soledad. A principios del mes de agosto moría esta brillante economista a quien todos los profesionales del gremio debemos, directa o indirectamente, alguna cosa (1).

Cost and profit efficiency in European banks

El analisis de ratios contables como indicadores de competitividad ha sido completado y ocasionalmente revisado por la creciente utilizacion de indicadores mas sofisticados de eficiencia. En los ultimos anos, mas de un centenar de trabajos han analizado la eficiencia de las instituciones financieras, centrandose mayoritariamente en la vertiente de los costes. Sin embargo, los escasos estudios que estiman funciones frontera de beneficios obtienen niveles de eficiencia en beneficios mucho menores que en costes, lo que implica la existencia de importantes ineficiencias en la vertiente de los ingresos. Ademas, son pocos los estudios que realizan comparaciones a nivel internacional, y ninguno de…

Interest rates, expectations and the credibility of the Bank of Spain

The purpose of the paper is to pinpoint the date of the change of monetary policy regime which occurred in Spain during the year 1984, when it moved away from controlling monetary aggregates towards interest rate targeting. The most likely date for the change is estimated and, surprisingly, there is evidence that agents learned about the new intermediate target quite rapidly.A week after the change, the term structure of interest rates showed how market agents attributed much more informational content to interest rate changes than they had previously. Two types of transitions are tried: a one-step and a gradual logistic swithing function.

ICT and Economic Growth

Using new sectoral data on investment and capital services we carry out a growth accounting exercise on Spain 1985-2002. We compute the contribution to output and labour productivity growth of employment, non-ICT and ICT capital, labour qualification and Total Factor Productivity. Results are given for 29 different branches; individually and grouped into four clusters according to their ICT use intensity. Three ICT assets (hardware, communications and software) are considered. We find that although the ICT intensive group appears to be the most dynamic cluster, most of the impact on productivity is still to come. There is some evidence of a reversal of the productivity slow down of the nine…

Spain: A Success Story Shadowed Only by a Poor Productivity Performance

Since joining the European Union in 1986, the performance of the Spanish economy has been quite remarkable, acting as a good example for new entrants of what can be accomplished in twenty years. Its ability to generate employment has been astonishing. Departing from an environment of very high unemployment (close to 25 per cent), Spain has become the country of destination most preferred by immigrants. However, it has also had a scant productivity performance. The main burden on productivity growth lies with the construction sector and almost all private service sectors with the unique exception of the financial sector. Most likely, over the next years, the continuity of the Spanish success…

Efficiency analysis in banking firms: An international comparison

The intensive process of financial European integration, together with the profound transformation and deregulation that has taken place in the Spanish Banking System, justifies the evaluation of its efficiency in comparison with that of other banking systems. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyze the productivity, efficiency and differences in technology of several banking systems. Using a non-parametric approach together with the Malmquist index, we compare the efficiency, productivity and differences in technology of different European and US banking systems for the year 1992. Finally, for a subsample of banks belonging to the same group of countries, using real as opposed…