Measuring efficiency and productivity growth in Japanese banking: a nonparametrie frontier approach

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of efficiency and productivity growth in Japanese banking by using nonparametric frontier techniques which allow for technical inefficiency and technological progress/regress. Here, productivity change indexes (the Malmquist productivity, efficiency change and technological change indexes) as well as technical efficiency measures are computed from a 1989-1991 sample of panel data. The study indicates at least five key findings which are summarized in the last section of this paper.