Productivity analysis in the banking system (The short-term and long-term causality between labor, capital adequacy and total factor productivity in banks)

Improving the productivity of financial markets plays an important role in the economies of countries. Given the bank-oriented financing system of most countries, it is important to know the ways to measure and increase the level of productivity in banks. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is investigating the short-term and long-term causality between capital adequacy, labor and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in a set of 10 banks listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange in 2010-2019. So, Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) method, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and Wald test have been used. According to the results, in the short run, a one-way Causality from capital adequacy to TFP is obtained. In the long run, the two-way relationships between labor and capital adequacy variables with TFP are positive. In this study, the error correction term, which indicates the speed of short-term adjustment to long-term equilibrium, has been evaluated