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Credit Access, the Costs of Credit and Credit Market Discrimination

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  • Christian E. Weller

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, credit expanded relative to income, especially after 2001. It is hypothesized that traditionally uneven credit access and gaps in the costs of credit by demographic characteristics shrank during this period. Relying on data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finance, this study looks at financial constraints, the costs of credit and a number of contributions to the costs of credit, including sources and types of loans. The results indicate that taste-based discrimination and structural discrimination may have persisted and possibly increased over time. Gaps in credit access and costs of credit have widened by race, remained high by income, but shrank by ethnicity. Part of the overall differences in credit access was a varying reliance on professional information when making decisions on debt.

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  • Christian E. Weller, 2008. "Credit Access, the Costs of Credit and Credit Market Discrimination," Working Papers wp171, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp171
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    Cited by:

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    2. Isaac Koomson & Samuel Kobina Annim & James Atta Peprah, 2016. "Loan refusal, household income and savings in Ghana: a dominance analysis approach," African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(2), pages 172-191.
    3. Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Post-Print hal-03470535, HAL.
    4. Okechukwu D. Anyamele, 2018. "Racial Ethnic differences in Household Loan Delinquency Rate in recent financial crisis: Evidence from 2007 and 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 8(3), pages 1-4.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6cbt691h0h8o9q5rf0apko0pda is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Koomson, Isaac & Annim, Samuel Kobina & Peprah, James Atta, 2014. "Loan Refusal, Household Income and Savings in Ghana," MPRA Paper 58049, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Hanan Morsy & Amira El-Shal & Andinet Woldemichael, 2019. "Working Paper 317 - Women Self-Selection out of the Credit Market in Africa," Working Paper Series 2443, African Development Bank.
    8. Morsy, Hanan & El-Shal, Amira & Woldemichael, Andinet, 2019. "Women Self-Selection out of the Credit Market in Africa," MPRA Paper 100395, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Fourcade, Marion & Healy, Kieran, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 559-572.
    10. Isabelle Agier & Ariane Szafarz, 2011. "Credit to Women Entrepreneurs: The Curse of the Trustworthier Sex," Working Papers CEB 11-005, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Dongyu Chen & Xiaolin Li & Fujun Lai, 2017. "Gender discrimination in online peer-to-peer credit lending: evidence from a lending platform in China," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 553-583, December.
    12. Loren Henderson & Cedric Herring & Hayward Horton & Melvin Thomas, 2015. "Credit Where Credit is Due?: Race, Gender, and Discrimination in the Credit Scores of Business Startups," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 459-479, December.
    13. Christian Weller, 2013. "Protecting Retirement Wealth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 51-88.
    14. Christian E. Weller & Connor Maxwell & Danyelle Solomon, 2021. "Simulating How Large Policy Proposals Affect the Black-White Wealth Gap," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 196-213, September.

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