📒 This book provides an in-depth incursion into the theoretic, methodological and empirical aspects of frontier efficiency studies focusing on banking production technologies. It is, thus, a good starting point for any empirical applications in efficiency estimations. Additionally, it takes the pulse of the international banking industry by mapping the most efficient and inefficient banking systems in the world and measuring the impact of the current financial and economic crises on banks' efficiency. It provides a snapshot into the race of nations towards world banking dominance by pointing-out the episodic winners and losers emerging from this economic and financial turmoil.