If Not Profit, Then What? Methodological Innovations and Empirical Insights from a Social Efficiency perspective in Financial Cooperatives
Social Efficiency, Credit Cooperatives, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Contextual Variables, Copula, Monte Carlo Simulation.
This thesis project, titled "If Not Profit, Then What?", proposes an investigation into the social efficiency of Brazilian credit cooperatives. The central objective is to validate a robust methodological framework for incorporating contextual variables into efficiency and productivity analysis, providing a comprehensive assessment of these institutions' performance under a hybrid mission.
The research is justified by the inadequacy of traditional financial metrics in capturing the social value generated by cooperatives, which operate under a "social rationality" focused on collective benefit and local development. The project is structured into four articles. The first article systematically reviews
methods for dealing with exogenous variables in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The second utilizes Monte Carlo simulations to test the statistical quality of different two-stage models, seeking to mitigate issues of endogeneity and bias that often undermine such estimates.
In the empirical sphere, subsequent articles apply the validated framework to a panel dataset of 444 individual Brazilian cooperatives between 2020 and 2024. The methodology employed will be selected from considering the accuracy of the simulation models.
Expected results include accurately identifying the impact of external factors on managerial performance, allowing for a fair comparison between cooperatives across different regional contexts. Finally, the thesis aims to formulate evidence-based recommendations for managers and regulators, promoting the strengthening of the social mission and the competitive viability of the cooperative model compared to traditional banks.