Do Unverifiable Disclosures Matter? Evidence from Peer-to-Peer Lending
利用Prosper.com数据，研究发现P2P借贷中自愿且不可验证的披露能显著降低借款利率并增加投标活动，每条额外披露使利率降低1.27个百分点、投标增加8%。
ABSTRACT The role of disclosure in attenuating market inefficiencies has been the subject of extensive research. While costless, voluntary, and unverifiable disclosures are unlikely to be credible sources of information, prior research demonstrates that individuals' decisions can be influenced by uninformative content. I use a unique dataset from a peer-to-peer lending website, Prosper.com, to demonstrate an economically large effect of voluntary, unverifiable disclosures in reducing the cost of debt. My results show an additional unverifiable disclosure is associated with a 1.27 percentage point reduction in interest rate and an 8 percent increase in bidding activity. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from sources identified in the paper.