Measuring applicant quality to detect discrimination in peer-to-peer lending

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper ; No. 13

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Household Saving; Personal Finance ; Expectations; Speculations
• Subject: gender discrimination ; household finance ; irrational beliefs

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Weizsäcker, Georg ; Zankiewicz, Christian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition
• (where): München und Berlin
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/162512
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET