本项目计划根据2008－2017年分年份、分银行机构、分省的中国商业银行数据（全部大型、股份制和城市商业银行；包括损益表、信贷收支表、贷款质量和按贷款企业规模划分的企业贷款数据），探讨分省银行运行效率及相关问题，以往还鲜有此角度讨论。具体分为3个子课题：子课题一根据2008-2017年分省银行数据，使用随机前沿方法和距离函数（方向性距离函数和双曲线距离函数），考虑非意愿产出，同时调整投入和产出，多角度研究银行技术效率和生产率，并进一步计算分省银行运行效率。在上述基础，子课题二根据2008-2017年分省数据多角度研究银行运行效率和经济增长之间的关系。在上述基础，子课题三根据2011-2014年小微企业贷款数据，从银行收益角度（银行运行效率衡量，此角度更能反映银行向小微企业提供贷款的内生动力）讨论哪些因素影响了小微企业贷款和银行收益之间的关系，重点关注银行类型和银行业竞争对上述关系的影响。

This project investigates bank efficiency and related issues, based on detailed financial and asset quality data at provincial level over the period 2008-2017. Our sample covers all big banks, joint-stock banks, and city commercial banks. In particular, this project consists of three work packages. The first work package employs stochastic directional and hyperbolic distance function approaches to examine provincial level bank efficiency using both technical efficiency and productivity measures, accounting for undesirable output and adjusting inputs and outputs simultaneously. The second work package investigates how bank efficiency affects regional economic growth. The third work package explores the relationship between bank efficiency and bank credit to SMEs and how this relationship varies with bank types and competition environment, based on a subsample over the period 2011-2014.Existing research has not addressed these issues at provincial level, perhaps due to the lack of detailed bank data at the provincial level.