2026 Loretta J. Mester: Economics and Finance Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Economics and Finance	51	1285	1141	776	672	386	24398

Research.com Recognitions

Fellow of the Financial Institutions Center (FIC)
Fellow of the Financial Institutions Center (FIC)
Fellow of the Financial Institutions Center (FIC)

Overview

Loretta J. Mester is affiliated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in the United States. Their research spans various topics within economics and finance, with a particular focus on banking stability, regulation, and efficiency. The breadth of their work also covers housing market economics, monetary policy and economic impact, economic theory and policy, global financial crisis and policies, corporate finance and governance, and Islamic finance and banking studies.

The main fields of study for this researcher include Economics, Econometrics and Finance, alongside Business, Management and Accounting. Within these fields, their work delves into subfields such as Finance, General Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Accounting, and Economics and Econometrics.

Recent publications by Loretta J. Mester feature the following papers and venues:

"Bankcard performance during the Great Recession," 2020, The Journal of Credit Risk
"Considerations for the Federal Reserve's upcoming framework review," 2025, Business Economics
"Patrick Honohan: The Central Bank as Crisis Manager," 2025, Business Economics

The researcher has collaborated with several coauthors, including Paul S. Calem, Julapa Jagtiani, Joseph P. Hughes, and Choon-Geol Moon. These collaborations illustrate involvement in a network of scholars in related areas of financial research.

Their work appears frequently in publication venues such as Business Economics and The Journal of Credit Risk, reflecting contributions primarily to journals oriented towards economic theory and applied finance.

Loretta J. Mester has been recognized as a Fellow of the Financial Institutions Center (FIC), acknowledging their engagement with the broader financial research community.

Best Publications

Inside the Black Box: What Explains Differences in the Efficiencies of Financial Institutions?

Allen N. Berger;Allen N. Berger;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

6529
Citations
Inside the Black Box: What Explains Differences in the Efficiencies of Financial Institutions?

Allen N. Berger;Allen N. Berger;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

3435
Citations
Deposits and relationship lending

Mitchell Berlin;Loretta J. Mester

1246
Citations
A study of bank efficiency taking into account risk-preferences

Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

1051
Citations
Debt covenants and renegotiation

Mitchell Berlin;Loretta J. Mester

997
Citations
Explaining the dramatic changes in performance of US banks: technological change, deregulation, and dynamic changes in competition

Allen N. Berger;Allen N. Berger;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

828
Citations
What's the point of credit scoring?

Loretta J. Mester

725
Citations
Efficiency in the savings and loan industry

Loretta J. Mester

613
Citations
Bank Capitalization and Cost: Evidence of Scale Economies in Risk Management and Signaling

Joseph P. Hughes;Loretta J. Mester

591
Citations
Consumer Behavior and the Stickiness of Credit-Card Interest Rates

Paul S Calem;Loretta J Mester

565
Citations
Efficient banking under interstate branching

Joseph P. Hughes;William W. Lang;Loretta J. Mester;Choon-Geol Moon

562
Citations
Deposits and Relationship Lending

Mitchell Berlin;Loretta J. Mester

559
Citations
A quality and risk-adjusted cost function for banks: Evidence on the "too-big-to-fail" doctrine

Joseph P. Hughes;Loretta J. Mester

553
Citations
Are scale economies in banking elusive or illusive?: Evidence obtained by incorporating capital structure and risk-taking into models of bank production

Joseph P. Hughes;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester;Choon Geol Moon

514
Citations
The dollars and sense of bank consolidation

Joseph P. Hughes;William W. Lang;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester;Choon Geol Moon

483
Citations
Debt covenants and renegotiation

Mitchell Berlin;Loretta J Mester

445
Citations
Who said large banks don’t experience scale economies? Evidence from a risk-return-driven cost function

Joseph P. Hughes;Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

443
Citations
A Multiproduct Cost Study of Savings and Loans

Loretta J. Mester

411
Citations
On the profitability and cost of relationship lending

Mitchell Berlin;Loretta J Mester

331
Citations
Transactions Accounts and Loan Monitoring

Loretta J. Mester;Leonard I. Nakamura;Micheline Renault

320
Citations
A Positive Analysis of Bank Closure

George J. Mailath;Loretta J. Mester

303
Citations
Efficiency in Banking: Theory, Practice, and Evidence

Joseph P. Hughes;Loretta J. Mester

294
Citations
Measuring efficiency at U.S. banks: Accounting for heterogeneity is important

Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester

265
Citations
Do bankers sacrifice value to build empires? Managerial incentives, industry consolidation, and financial performance

Joseph P Hughes;William W Lang;Loretta J Mester;Loretta J Mester;Choon-Geol Moon

245
Citations
Are Scale Economies in Banking Elusive or Illusive? Evidence Obtained by Incorporating Capital Structure and Risk-Taking Into Models of Bank Production

Loretta J. Mester;Loretta J. Mester;Joseph P. Hughes;Choon-Geol Moon

180
Citations
Efficient banking under interstate branching

Joseph P. Hughes;William W. Lang;Loretta J. Mester;Choon-Geol Moon

96
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Allen N. Berger University of South Carolina

Paul S. Calem Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Iftekhar Hasan Fordham University

Elyas Elyasiani Temple University

Anthony Saunders New York University

George J. Mailath University of Pennsylvania

External Links

Wikipedia of Loretta J. Mester Personal website of Loretta J. Mester Google Scholar page

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