عنوان

Essays in Household Finance

TL97c7613v

انگلیسی

Essays in Household Finance

[Thesis]

Cox, Natalie Cox

Handel, Benjamin

UC Berkeley

2017

UC Berkeley

2017

The use of technology by firms is changing the way insurance and lending markets function. I study the financial technology, or "fin-tech'', industry, which is characterized by a growing number of online lenders who use data on educational, employment, and financial outcomes to quickly assess the risk of prospective borrowers and offer individualized loan terms. In many ways, their financial "innovations'' can be thought of as movements towards more personalized products: interest rates that better reflect individuals' risk, payment plans that are tailored to individuals' monthly income and expenditures, and user-friendly interfaces that make financial decisions more intuitive and uncomplicated. On an individual level, as firms expand and customize product offerings, there is the potential for large efficiency gains. These innovations could also have wider implications for market structure; for example, if more accurate risk-based pricing creates clear winners and losers, it will change the distribution of consumer surplus.Advances in data-driven underwriting have both efficiency and equity implications for consumer lending markets where private and public credit options coexist. In the

Cox, Natalie Cox

Handel, Benjamin

UC Berkeley

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y