Predictably unequal? The effect of machine learning on credit markets
File(s)PredictablyUnequal_2020_10_01.pdf (1.19 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Fuster, Andreas
Goldsmith-Pinkham, Paul
Ramadorai, Tarun
Walther, Ansgar
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Innovations in statistical technology have sparked concerns about distributional impacts across categories such as race and gender. Theoretically, as statistical technology improves, distributional consequences depend on how changes in functional forms interact with cross-category distributions of observable characteristics. Using detailed administrative data on US mortgages, we embed the predictions of traditional logit and more sophisticated machine-learning default prediction models into a simple equilibrium credit model. Machine learning models slightly increase credit provision overall, but increase rate disparity between and within groups; effects mainly arise from flexibility to uncover structural relationships between default and observables, rather than from triangulation of excluded characteristics. We predict that Black and Hispanic borrowers are disproportionately less likely to gain from new technology.
Date Issued
2022-02-01
Date Acceptance
2020-11-17
Citation
The Journal of Finance, 2022, 77 (1), pp.5-47
ISSN
0022-1082
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
5
End Page
47
Journal / Book Title
The Journal of Finance
Volume
77
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2021 the American Finance Association. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jofi.13090. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Subjects
Social Sciences
Business, Finance
Economics
Business & Economics
MORTGAGE
DISCRIMINATION
ARBITRAGE
MODELS
1502 Banking, Finance and Investment
Finance
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-10-28