Anthony Waikel

University of Georgia

Terry College of Business

Publications

Online Financing without FinTech: Evidence from Online Informal Loans during the Pandemic, 

with Filipe Correia and António Martins

Journal of Economics and Business (link)

We present the first comprehensive dataset on an online informal micro-lending community. These informal loans are small, short duration, and high-cost. Using our unique micro data, and the Covid-19 pandemic as a laboratory, we uncover different types of information contained on loan terms and on the narratives of market participants. First, loan terms reflect the aggregate economic context of borrowers and lenders. Second, narratives among market participants contain additional and timely information about aggregate and individual borrower circumstances. Third, lenders imperfectly screen on both loan terms and narrative information. These findings highlight the role of data in FinTech. Transparency on micro-loans can improve the efficiency of the credit market, democratizing access to finance for borrowers, while protecting lenders. 

Figure on the left: term structure of interest rates of informal loans 

Working Papers

Consumer Credit Without Collateral, Regulation, or Intermediaries,

with Filipe Correia and António Martins (link)

Using novel data from an online informal credit market, we investigate how consumer credit unfolds without a financial system. We find borrowers display high rates of default and face high credit prices. A minority of consistently successful lenders gain a disproportionately large and profitable market share, while the average lender realizes losses. High-skill lenders achieve better loan outcomes and provide more lenient loan terms. Loans are more likely to be funded and repaid when acquiring information about borrowers is easier for lenders. These findings highlight the role of intermediaries in consumer credit: they bring skill and internalize information acquisition. 

Figure on the left: on the top, lender return on loans based on activity level, on the bottom interest rates on loans as lenders gain lending experience.

Presentations: Future Finance and Economics Association Conference (2023), American Finance Association Annual Meeting (PhD Poster Session 2023), FDIC Consumer Research Symposium (2024)