WEBINAR SERIES
Reducing Racial Disparities in Consumer Credit: Evidence from Anonymous Loan Applications
Using a unique experiment of anonymizing online loan applications, the authors find that anonymous loan applications reduce racial disparities in access to credit. With names on applications, ethnic minority applicants are 10.6% less likely to receive online loan offers than otherwise identical ethnic majority applicants; anonymizing applications eliminates such disparities. Anonymization merely delays revealing race until applicants visit the lender in person for the required identity verification before loan origination. Yet, racial disparities in loan origination also decrease. The authors do not find significant racial gaps in loan performance before or after anonymization. Furthermore, accurate statistical discrimination is unlikely to explain their results.
2023
Session Chair: Bernard YEUNG
Stephen Riady Distinguished Professor in Finance and Strategic Management, National University of Singapore and President, ABFER
Speakers
Session Format
Each session lasts for 1 hour 10 minutes (25 minutes for the author, 25 minutes for the discussion and 20 minutes for participants' Q&A). Sessions will be recorded and posted on ABFER's web, except in cases where speakers or discussants request us not to.
Registration
Please register here to receive a unique Zoom link. (Notice: Videos and screenshots will be taken during each session for the purpose of marketing, publicity purposes in print, electronic and social media)
