IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nan/wpaper/1707.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of Punctuation in P2P Lending: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiao CHEN

    (Department of Finance, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.)

  • Bihong HUANG

    (Asian Development Bank Institute, Kasumigaseki Building 8F, 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6008, Japan.)

  • Dezhu YE

    (Department of Finance, Research Institute of Finance, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.)

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of punctuation in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market. Using data from Renrendai, one of the largest P2P lending platforms in China, we investigate how the amount of punctuation used in loan descriptions influences the funding probability, borrowing rate, and default. The empirical evidence shows that the amount of punctuation is negatively associated with the funding probability and borrowing rate. We propose that the usage of punctuation affects the readability of a loan description and reflects borrowers self-control and cognitive ability. Within a given number of words, excessive usage of punctuation makes loan description informal and reduces the readability of the text, thereby impairing investors trust in borrowers. Moreover, borrowers that overuse punctuation may have lower ability of self-control, and tend to underestimate the risk of borrowing and offer lower borrowing rate due to overconfidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiao CHEN & Bihong HUANG & Dezhu YE, 2017. "The Role of Punctuation in P2P Lending: Evidence from China," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 1707, Nanyang Technological University, School of Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:nan:wpaper:1707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://web.hss.ntu.edu.sg/egc/wp/2017/2017-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mild, Andreas & Waitz, Martin & Wöckl, Jürgen, 2015. "How low can you go? — Overcoming the inability of lenders to set proper interest rates on unsecured peer-to-peer lending markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1291-1305.
    2. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    3. Mingfeng Lin & Nagpurnanand R. Prabhala & Siva Viswanathan, 2013. "Judging Borrowers by the Company They Keep: Friendship Networks and Information Asymmetry in Online Peer-to-Peer Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 17-35, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Xiao & Huang, Bihong & Ye, Dezhu, 2018. "The role of punctuation in P2P lending: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 634-643.
    2. Wang, Qian & Su, Zhongnan & Chen, Xinyang, 2021. "Information disclosure and the default risk of online peer-to-peer lending platform," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    3. Yufei Xia & Lingyun He & Yinguo Li & Nana Liu & Yanlin Ding, 2020. "Predicting loan default in peer‐to‐peer lending using narrative data," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 260-280, March.
    4. Qizhi Tao & Yizhe Dong & Ziming Lin, 2017. "Who can get money? Evidence from the Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 425-441, June.
    5. Wang, Liang & Li, Yuxuan & Liang, Meiqi & Wang, Yuanfei, 2023. "Research on P2P product portfolio strategy based on term structure under risk reserve system," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 124-138.
    6. Li, Zhiyong & Li, Aimin & Bellotti, Anthony & Yao, Xiao, 2023. "The profitability of online loans: A competing risks analysis on default and prepayment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 968-985.
    7. Liu, He & Qiao, Han & Wang, Shouyang & Li, Yuze, 2019. "Platform Competition in Peer-to-Peer Lending Considering Risk Control Ability," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 280-290.
    8. Qizhi Tao & Yizhe Dong & Ziming Lin, 0. "Who can get money? Evidence from the Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    9. Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Begoña Gutiérrez-Nieto & Luz López-Palacios, 2015. "Determinants of Default in P2P Lending," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Efstathios Polyzos & Aristeidis Samitas & Ghulame Rubbaniy, 2024. "The perfect bail‐in: Financing without banks using peer‐to‐peer lending," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 3393-3412, July.
    11. Marco Bade & Martin Walther, 2021. "Local preferences and the allocation of attention in equity-based crowdfunding," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(8), pages 2501-2533, November.
    12. Peter Gomber & Jascha-Alexander Koch & Michael Siering, 2017. "Digital Finance and FinTech: current research and future research directions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 537-580, July.
    13. Qun Chen & Ji-Wen Li & Jian-Guo Liu & Jing-Ti Han & Yun Shi & Xun-Hua Guo, 2021. "Borrower Learning Effects: Do Prior Experiences Promote Continuous Successes in Peer-to-Peer Lending?," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 963-986, August.
    14. Qun Chen & Ji-Wen Li & Jian-Guo Liu & Jing-Ti Han & Yun Shi & Xun-Hua Guo, 0. "Borrower Learning Effects: Do Prior Experiences Promote Continuous Successes in Peer-to-Peer Lending?," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    15. Chen, Cathy W.S. & Dong, Manh Cuong & Liu, Nathan & Sriboonchitta, Songsak, 2019. "Inferences of default risk and borrower characteristics on P2P lending," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    16. Guo, Yanhong & Zhai, Yonghui & Jiang, Shuai, 2025. "Investment decision making for large-scale Peer-to-Peer lending data: A Bayesian Neural Network approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Gao, Guang-Xin & Fan, Zhi-Ping & Fang, Xin & Lim, Yun Fong, 2018. "Optimal Stackelberg strategies for financing a supply chain through online peer-to-peer lending," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(2), pages 585-597.
    18. Ying Liu & Rui Wang & Jin Qin, 2021. "CEO influence on P2P platform survival: Education and experience do matter!," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 622-634, April.
    19. Kong, Dongmin & Pan, Yue & Tian, Gary Gang & Zhang, Pengdong, 2020. "CEOs' hometown connections and access to trade credit: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Tihana Škrinjarić, 2019. "Time Varying Spillovers between the Online Search Volume and Stock Returns: Case of CESEE Markets," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-30, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G29 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nan:wpaper:1707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Magdalene Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dentusg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.