Using data for 6740 U.S. banks from 1996 to 2016, we consider whether mortgage loan demand is a key determinant of banks’ cost efficiency and management quality. We estimate mortgage loan demand from loan-level applications at individual banks, and we estimate bank efficiency and management quality score from banks’ structural models. In line with theoretical considerations around economies of scale, our results show that loan amount demand improves cost efficiency, but the number of loan applications reduces cost efficiency. In contrast, mortgage loan demand has an economically less significant effect on management quality score. We also find that loan demand is an important factor in shaping banks’ loan quality, above and beyond operational efficiency.

使用1996年至2016年美国6740家银行的数据，我们考虑抵押贷款需求是否是决定银行成本效率和管理质量的关键因素。我们从各个银行的贷款级别应用程序估算抵押贷款需求，并从银行的结构模型估算银行效率和管理质量得分。与围绕规模经济的理论考虑相一致，我们的结果表明，贷款金额需求提高了成本效率，但是贷款申请的数量降低了成本效率。相反，抵押贷款需求在经济上对管理质量得分的影响较小。我们还发现，贷款需求是影响银行贷款质量的重要因素，它超出了运营效率。