Related papers: Racial Disparities in Debt Collection
This paper investigates gaps in access to and the cost of housing credit by race and ethnicity using the near universe of U.S. mortgage applications. Our data contain borrower creditworthiness variables that have historically been absent…
We show that lenders face more uncertainty when assessing default risk of historically under-served groups in US credit markets and that this information disparity is a quantitatively important driver of inefficient and unequal credit…
Credit scores are critical for allocating consumer debt in the United States, yet little evidence is available on their performance. We benchmark a widely used credit score against a machine learning model of consumer default and find…
This paper examines the impact of racial discrimination in hiring on employment, wages, and wealth disparities between black and white workers. Using a labor search-and-matching model with racially prejudiced and non-prejudiced firms, we…
A lack of financial access, which is often an issue in many central-city U.S. neighborhoods, can be linked to higher interest rates as well as negative health and psychological outcomes. A number of analyses of "banking deserts" have also…
Outcome tests are a popular method for detecting bias in lending, hiring, and policing decisions. These tests operate by comparing the success rate of decisions across groups. For example, if loans made to minority applicants are observed…
How do socioeconomically unequal screening practices impact access to elite firms and what policies might reduce inequality? Using personnel data from elite U.S. and European multinational corporations recruiting from an elite Indian…
Several key actors -- police, prosecutors, judges -- can alter the course of individuals passing through the multi-staged criminal justice system. I use linked arrest-sentencing data for federal courts from 1994-2010 to examine the role…
Tests for racial bias commonly assess whether two people of different races are treated differently. A fundamental challenge is that, because two people may differ in many ways, factors besides race might explain differences in treatment.…
To assess racial disparities in police interactions with the public, we compiled and analyzed a dataset detailing over 60 million state patrol stops conducted in 20 U.S. states between 2011 and 2015. We find that black drivers are stopped…
Algorithmic lending has transformed the consumer credit landscape, with complex machine learning models now commonly used to make or assist underwriting decisions. To comply with fair lending laws, these algorithms typically exclude legally…
This paper examines the interplay between desegregation, institutional bias, and individual behavior in education. Using a game-theoretic model that considers race-heterogeneous social incentives, the study investigates the effects of…
Racial disparities in US drug arrest rates have been observed for decades, but their causes and policy implications are still contested. Some have argued that the disparities largely reflect differences in drug use between racial groups,…
There is a tight connection between credit access and voting. We show that uncertainty in access to credit pushes voters toward more conservative candidates in US elections. Using a 1% sample of the US population with valid credit reports,…
An analysis of institutional data to understand the outcome of the many obstacles faced by students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds is important in order to work towards promoting equity and inclusion for all students. We use 10…
Achievement gaps refer to the difference in the performance on examinations of students belonging to different social groups. Achievement gaps between ethnic groups have been observed in several countries with heterogeneous populations. In…
Disparities in lending to minority applicants persist even as algorithmic lending finds widespread adoption. We study the role of risk-management constraints, specifically Value-at-Risk ($\VaR$) and Expected Shortfall (ES), in inducing…
This paper analyzes the differences in poverty in high wealth communities and low wealth communities. We first discuss methods of measuring poverty and analyze the causes of individual poverty and poverty in the Bay Area. Three cases are…
We conducted a large-scale resume audit of 36,880 applications to 9,220 job advertisements for new college graduates across the United States. Firms express task preferences through job-advertisement text, which we link to occupation-level…
In many U.S. central cities, property values are relatively low, while rents are closer to those in better-off neighborhoods. This gap can lead to relatively large profits for landlords, and has been referred to as "exploitaton" for…