Are Women More Credit-Constrained than Men?: Evidence from a Rising Credit Market

This study investigates whether gender discrimination is taking place in an innovative credit market known as peer-to-peer lending. Based on the data of the largest German peer-to-peer lending platform, we observe that female borrowers pay on average higher interest rates than males despite the fact that the two gender groups do not differ with respect to their credit risk. Our analysis shows however that this interest rate gap doesn't emerge because of discrimination against female borrowers. In all probability, female borrowers deliberately offer higher interest rates in anticipation that they would be otherwise discriminated.