Measuring Applicant Quality to Detect Discrimination In Peer-to-Peer Lending

Weizsäcker, Georg und Zankiewicz, Christian (2017): Measuring Applicant Quality to Detect Discrimination In Peer-to-Peer Lending. Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190, Discussion Paper No. 13

Abstract

We measure the quality of applications for online peer-to-peer lending in Germany and relate it to gender discrimination. The data context allows summarizing application quality as a single numeric measure, the expected internal rate of return. The measure serves as a control variable and is interacted with the applicants' gender. We find that women enjoy higher funding rates than men, mainly because they are less punished when they offer a low application quality. The evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the predominantly male lenders have a less precise understanding of women's applications than of men's applications.

• Dokumententyp: Paper
• Keywords: Gender discrimination; household finance; irrational beliefs
• Fakultät: Volkswirtschaft > Collaborative Research Center Transregio "Rationality and Competition"
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• JEL Classification: D14, D84
• Sprache: Englisch