In order to study the structure of society, sociologists usually distinguish several homogeneous social groups, or classes. The most common division consists of three groups: upper, middle and lower classes. Such a partition is traditionally based on a subjective (exogenous) criteria adopted by...

Non-parametric estimates of technical efficiency of Russian banks are considered for each quarter in the period of 2002–2006. Two types of DEA estimates CCR (Charnes, Cooper, Rhodes, 1978) and BCC (Banker, Charnes, Cooper, 1984), are compared with parametric SFA estimates. Semiparametric...

The paper analyses cost efficiency of Russian banks. Models of banks' production function are developed using stochastic production function approach. We consider several models, and the models of particular interest are models, which include asset quality and risk-preferences as factors....

The rating agencies were emerged by the demand from market economy. Such agencies take the job of independent evaluation of the firms' financial strength, which allow firms decrease their expenses on their own market monitoring. It is extremely important with increasing number of potential...