The impact of public corruption on marketplace lending outcomes
研究了美国各州公共腐败对LendingClub等市场借贷平台贷款结果的影响，发现腐败每增加一个单位，贷款违约率上升3%，利率上升9个基点，且信任是中介机制。
This study investigates the impact of public corruption on lending outcomes in the context of Marketplace Lending (MPL) platforms such as LendingClub. Utilizing data on over one million loans and state-level corruption metrics from the US Department of Justice, this research uniquely examines within-country variations in corruption. Our findings reveal a significant correlation between public corruption and loan defaults, with a 3 % increase in default rates per unit increase in corruption. Interest rates also rise by 9 basis points under similar conditions. These effects persist across various model specifications and robustness checks. We demonstrate that trust mediates the relationship between corruption and loan defaults, and that neither governance nor enforcement explains the observed impacts. This study contributes to the literature by linking corruption to individual financial behavior in fintech lending, highlighting the crucial role of trust in financial transactions.