| This dissertation consists of four essays on the input/output efficiency studies. Using one of the methods in frontier analysis—data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist analysis, our papers examine the efficiency performances of financial institutions in three countries, Japan, U.S. and Taiwan. Our first essay investigates the effect of ownership structure and agency costs on the efficiency of keiretsu and independent insurers in Japanese non-life insurance industry. The second essay examines the relationship between mergers and acquisitions, efficiency, and scale economies in the U.S. thrift industry in 1990s. The third essay examines the efficiency of city and regional banks in Japanese commercial banking, and finally, the fourth essay analyzes the impact of deregulation and liberalization by examining the efficiency performance of life insurance industry in Taiwan. Based on the efficiency performances in different financial institutions, our studies provide empirical evidences in the following three aspects: the effect of ownership structure and agency costs on firm efficiency, the effect of mergers and acquisitions, and the impact of deregulation on firm efficiency. |
