Internet Banking: An Exploration in Technology Diffusion and Impact

This paper studies endogenous diffusion and impact of a cost-saving technological innovation – Internet Banking. When the innovation is initially introduced, large banks have an advantage to adopt it first and enjoy further growth of size. Over time, as the innovation diffuses into smaller banks, the aggregate bank size distribution increases stochastically towards a new steady state. Applying the theory to an empirical study of Internet Banking diffusion across 50 US states, we examine the technological, economic and institutional factors governing the process. Our findings disentangle the interrelationship between Internet Banking adoption and growth of average bank size, and explain the variation of diffusion rates across geographic regions.