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Finance Job Market 2024 - 25 Paper
Finance Job Market 2024 - 25 Paper
Abstract: I study the spillover effect of unsecured FinTech lending on mortgage markets. Using quasi-exogenous variation in LendingClub loan activity due to its partnership with the BancAlliance consortium of community banks in February 2015, I present causal evidence that increase in unsecured personal loans by LendingClub resulted in a significant increase in overall mortgage activity in an area. This spillover is more pronounced for new home purchase activity versus mortgage refinancings, and for borrowers who face larger information frictions in the mortgage market. Despite the increase in mortgage lending, I show that mortgage default rates did not increase. Overall, my findings uncover a new benefit of FinTech lending and provide important inputs to ongoing policy debates in the unsecured FinTech lending market.
Conferences: Office of Financial Research Rising Scholar Conference 2025, Pre-WFA Early Career Women In Finance Conference 2025
Seminars: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Indian School of Business, Texas A&M University, University of Hong Kong, University of Miami, University of Michigan, Warwick University
Abstract: After the introduction of a nationwide Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in 2016, India has become one of the world's leading economies for cashless transactions. We use the heterogeneity in the intensity of the adoption of digital payments across districts to show that economic outcomes, as measured by household income and small business activities, increased significantly in districts with a higher intensity of cashless transactions. We exploit the differences in the timing of participation on the UPI platform by different banks to establish a causal link between digital payments and economic outcomes. Our results are stronger in financially less developed regions of the country and for financially weaker households such as street vendors and hawkers. Relaxation of borrowing constraints and reduction in the transaction cost of payments are two principal mechanisms behind our results. These findings have important implications for theories of intermediation and for other economies that are considering the adoption of digital payment systems.
Conferences*: AFA 2024, CAFRAL- ISB Conference 2025, Cambridge Alternative Finance Conference 2023, CEPR EFA & Fintech Webinar, Columbia University’s India Summit 2023, Federal Reserve Bank - Economics of Payments Workshop 2023, G7 Digital Payment Expert Group 2024, India Policy Forum New Delhi 2024, IIMC - NYU Stern Conference 2023, Johns Hopkins Carey Finance Conference - PhD Poster Session 2023, NBER meeting on Capital Markets, Technology, Financial Inclusion, & Economic Growth 2023, NBER Macro, Money and Financial Frictions, SI 2023, Bank of Canada - Payments & Securities Settlement Workshop 2023, SITE Financial Regulation, Stanford 2023
Seminars*: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Georgia, UCLA Anderson, UCLA Macro-Finance Lunch, and University of Southern California
*Includes presentations by co-author
Woman, Lender, Other: Gendered Risk-Taking In FinTech Lending
Woman, Lender, Other: Gendered Risk-Taking In FinTech Lending
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