Disguised corruption: Evidence from consumer credit in China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Agarwal, Sumit; Qian, Wenlan; Seru, Amit; Zhang, Jian
• 署名单位: National University of Singapore; Stanford University; University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.03.002
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 430-450
• 关键词: corruption; Credit cards; credit; debt; household finance; GOVERNMENT; bureaucrats; banking; political connections; CHINA

摘要

Using a comprehensive sample of credit card data from a leading Chinese bank, we show that government bureaucrats receive 16% higher credit lines than non-bureaucrats with similar income and demographics, but their accounts experience a significantly higher likelihood of delinquency and debt forgiveness. Regions associated with greater credit provision to bureaucrats open more branches and receive more deposits from the local government. After staggered corruption crackdowns of provincial-level political officials, the new credit cards originated to bureaucrats in exposed regions do not enjoy a credit line premium, and bureaucrats' delinquency and reinstatement rates are similar to those of non-bureaucrats. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.