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Fintech credit, big tech credit and income inequality

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  • Hodula, Martin

Abstract

The rise of alternative credit lines, powered by the digital revolution, comes with a promise of additional funding to the economy. In the paper, I explore whether the growth of fintech and big tech credit can be associated with changes in income inequality. For this purpose, I utilize a rich panel of 78 countries over the 2013–2019 period. I find that rise of fintech and big tech credit is indeed associated with a reduction in income inequality. However, this somewhat wanting result emerges only in countries with an already high level of financial inclusion.

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  • Hodula, Martin, 2023. "Fintech credit, big tech credit and income inequality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:51:y:2023:i:c:s1544612322005645
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2022.103387
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    Cited by:

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    3. Wang, Xinyue & Cao, Yuqiang & Feng, Zhuoan & Lu, Meiting & Shan, Yaowen, 2023. "Local FinTech development and stock price crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digital lending; Fintech; Big tech; Inclusion; Income inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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