Efficiency and expense preference in the colombian financial cooperative sector

Abstract

This paper explores the expense preference behaviour in Colombian financial cooperatives. Our findings indicate that small cooperatives seem to use a production technology that is different from that of large ones, high-leverage cooperatives appear to use a technology that is different from that of low-leverage cooperatives, and managers of larger units exhibit separable-expense behaviour, while managers from lower-leverage units exhibit joint-expense preference behaviour. These results suggest that, in Colombia, a merger of small cooperatives into larger ones is a decision that should either not be promoted or carefully analyzed before being taken, in order to clearly detect all the possible benefits that might counterbalance managers' expense preference behaviour. © Canadian Association for the Study of International Development, 2009.