Trust and Credit: The Role of Appearance in Peer-to-peer Lending

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Duarte, Jefferson; Siegel, Stephan; Young, Lance
• 署名单位: Rice University; University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhs071
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 2455
• 关键词: aggressive-behavior; human amygdala; humans; faces; trustworthiness; MARKET; beauty; biases; game

摘要

Although it is well known that appearance-based impressions affect labor market and election outcomes, little is known about the role appearance plays in financial transactions. We address this question using photographs of potential borrowers from a peer-to-peer lending site. Consistent with the trust-intensive nature of lending, we find that borrowers who appear more trustworthy have higher probabilities of having their loans funded. Moreover, borrowers who appear more trustworthy indeed have better credit scores and default less often. Overall, our findings suggest that impressions of trustworthiness matter in financial transactions as they predict investor, as well as borrower, behavior. A man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom. -John Pierpont Morgan, 1913.