Estimating the technical and scale efficiency of Greek commercial banks: The impact of credit risk, off-balance sheet activities, and international operationsEstimating the technical and scale efficiency of Greek commercial banks: The impact of credit risk, off-balance sheet activities, and international operations Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2015-10-272008enThis paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the efficiency of the Greek commercial banking industry over the period 2000–2004. Our results indicate that the inclusion of loan loss provisions as an input increases the efficiency scores, but off-balance sheet items do not have a significant impact. The differences between the efficiency scores obtained through the profit-oriented and the intermediation approaches are in general small. Banks that have expanded their operations abroad appear to be more technical efficient than those operating only at a national level. Higher capitalization, loan activity, and market power increase the efficiency of banks. The number of branches has a positive and significant impact on efficiency, but the number of ATMs does not. The results are mixed with respect to variables indicating whether the banks are operating abroad through subsidiaries or branches.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Research in International Business and Finance223301–318 Pasiouras Fotios Πασιουρας Φωτιος Elsevier