Ownership Structure and Building Society Efficiency

This paper investigates the effect of ownership structure on the cost efficiency of Australian building societies using the stochastic econometric frontier approach. Contrary to the expense preference hypothesis, mutually owned societies we found to be, on average, more cost efficient than those under stock ownership. Moreover, mutual and stoc-owned societies have significantly different cost functions or production technologies. The results are consistent with U.S. results of Mester (1993).