Carlo Migliardo

Ownership structure and bank performance in EU-15 countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ownership structure on bank performance in EU-15 countries. Specifically, it examines to what extent shareholder type and the degree of shareholder concentration affect the banks’ profitability, risk and technical efficiency. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sample of 1,459 banks operating in EU-15 countries from 2011 to 2015. It constructs a set of continuous variables capturing the ownership nature, the concentration and their interactions, and estimates an instrumental variable random effect (IV-RE) model. In addition, a panel data stochastic frontier analysis is conducted to estimate the time-varying technical efficiency for profitability and costs. Findings The empirical analysis shows that bank performance is affected by shareholder type. When regressed against the entrenchment behavior of the controlling owner hypothesis, banks with large-block shareholders are more profitable, less risky and more profit efficient. Further, ownership concentration reverts the negative effect related to the institutional, bank and industry ownership. Research limitations/implications The results support the hypothesis that concentrated ownership helps to overcome agency problems. They also confirm that managerial involvement in banks’ capital enhances a bank’s profit and its volatility. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to consider the ownership nature, the concentration and their interaction using continuous variables, which allows for more precise inferences. The results provide new evidence that bank profitability, cost efficiency and risk are affected by the type of direct shareholders.

Aree naturali protette e strumenti di analisi per la pianificazione degli investimenti

Il lavoro affronta l’ampia tematica dei sistemi di finanziamento delle aree protette. Prendendo spunto dalle politiche pubbliche messe in atto dall’Italia per la salvaguardia dei parchi naturali, si e cercato di valutare l’efficienza di un sistema di prezzi quale forma di finanziamento di tali siti. A tal fine, si e condotta un’analisi sulla disponibilita a pagare dei potenziali visitatori di un parco situato in Sicilia, con il supporto di tecniche di tipo Contingent Valuation e l’applicazione di modelli di Stated Preferences per le indagini sulle caratteristiche socio-economiche e le preferenze individuali dell’attuale domanda eco-turistica.