Authors:
Weizsäcker, Georg (Humboldt University Berlin and DIW Berlin)
Zankiewicz, Christian (DIW Berlin)
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.
Keywords:
Gender discrimination; household finance; irrational beliefs
JEL-Classification:
D14; D84