An. Berger et al., Why are bank profits so persistent? The roles of product market competition, informational opacity, and regional/macroeconomic shocks, J BANK FIN, 24(7), 2000, pp. 1203-1235
We investigate how banking market competition, informational opacity, and s
ensitivity to shocks have changed over the last three decades by examining
the persistence of firm-level rents. We develop propagation mechanisms with
testable implications to isolate the sources of persistence. Our analysis
suggests that different processes underlie persistence at the high and low
ends of the performance distribution. Our tests suggest that impediments to
competition and informational opacity continue to be strong determinants o
f persistence; that the reduction in geographic regulatory restrictions had
little effect on competitiveness; and that persistence remains sensitive t
o regional/macroeconomic shocks. The findings also suggest reasons for the
recent record profitability of the industry. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier
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