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ABSTRACT**:  Despite the global importance of mutuals in financial services, and the universal need to measure and improve organizational efficiency in all deposit‐taking institutions, it is only relatively recently that the most advanced econometric and mathematical programming frontier techniques have been applied. This paper provides a synoptic survey of the comparatively few empirical analyses of frontier efficiency measurement in deposit‐taking financial mutuals, comprising savings and loans, building societies and credit unions in Australia, the UK, and the USA. Both estimation and measurement techniques and the determinants of efficiency are examined. Particular focus is placed on how the results of these studies may help inform regulatory policy and managerial behaviour.

Abstract This article examines the political cycles in Australian stock returns from 1901–2005. The article defines the political cycle in terms of the party in power, ministerial tenure and election information effects. The market variables are returns, excess returns over inflation and excess returns over interest rates. Descriptive analysis suggests differences in the variance of returns under Labor and non‐Labor ministries, but no significant differences in mean returns. Using a generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedastistic‐M model, returns are found to be higher only for non‐Labor ministries before 1949 and there is no difference in excess returns over inflation or interest throughout the full sample.

Health care institutions worldwide are increasingly the subject of analyses aimed at defining, measuring, and improving organizational efficiency. However, despite the importance of efficiency measurement in health care services, it is only relatively recently that the more advanced econometric and mathematical programming frontier techniques have been applied to hospitals, nursing homes, health management organizations, and physician practices, among others. This article provides a synoptic survey of the comparatively few empirical analyses of frontier efficiency measurement in health care services. Both the measurement of efficiency in a range of health care services and the posited determinants of health care efficiency are examined.

This paper examines the role of demographic, socioeconomic and debt portfolio characteristics as contributors to financial stress in Australian households. The data is drawn from the most-recent Household Expenditure Survey Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURF) and relate to 3,268 probability-weighted households. Financial stress is defined, amongst other things, in terms of financial reasons for being unable to have a holiday, have meals with family and friends, and engage in hobbies and other leisure ctivities and overall financial management. Characteristics examined included family structure and composition, source and level of household income, age, sex and marital status, ethic background, housing value, debt repayments and credit card usage. Binary logit models are used to identify the source and magnitude of factors associated with financial stress. The evidence provided suggests that financial stress is higher in families with more children or other dependents and from ethnic minorities, especially those more reliant on government pensions and benefits, and negatively related to disposable income and housing value. There is little evidence to suggest that Australia's historically high levels of household debt are currently the cause of significant amounts of financial stress in these households.

This paper examines demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as predictors of emergency finance in Australian households. The data is drawn from the most recent Household Expenditure Survey Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURF) and relate to 6,892 probability-weighted households. Emergency finance is defined in terms of the ability to raise $2,000 within one week and its potential sources include own savings and loans from deposit-taking institutions, finance companies, credit cards, family and friends and welfare or community organisations. Characteristics examined included family structure and composition, source and level of household income, age, sex and marital status, ethnic background and housing value. Binary logistic models are used to identify the source and magnitude of factors associated with the ability to raise emergency finance and the likelihood of choosing each method of raising finance. The results indicate that the presence of children, the number of dependents and income-earning units, the age, sex and ethnicity of the household head, dependency upon government pensions and benefits, homeownership and disposable income are significant determinants of the capacity to raise emergency finance. However, the demographic and socioeconomic factors examined are generally better at predicting mainstay sources of finance such as own savings and loans from deposit-taking institutions and credit card usage than loans from family and friends and welfare or community organisations.

Credit unions are small, cooperative, not‐for‐profit institutions—facts which usually distinguish them from other financial intermediaries. Whilst respecting the unique organizational and institutional features of credit unions, the present study also accepts the need for rigorous efficiency assessment. Using a sample of 233 Australian credit unions the study uses non‐parametric techniques to measure efficiency, followed by parametric techniques to attribute variation in efficiency. The results indicate that a large number of credit unions are best‐practice efficient, and any efficiencies found appear to flow from X‐inefficiencies rather than from the selection of an inappropriate scale of operations. All other things being equal, credit unions formed on the basis of a community bond, with a large asset base, and an orientation towards commercial loans will be relatively more efficient.

A sample of sixty‐three Australian credit unions is used to compare the financial performance measures provided by accounting‐based financial ratios, and production performance as measured by efficiency indices. Whilst the evidence found supports the posited association between financial ratios and efficiency indices, the usefulness of such information is contingent upon which set of a priori behavioural assumptions have been used. More particularly, the results question the applicability of a traditional profit‐based, physical production approach to a not‐for‐profit, cooperative setting.