Consumer litigation funding (CLF) provides non-recourse cash advances to consumer plaintiffs pursuing a tort complaint. This paper examines how access to this funding impacts outcomes in the legal system. Using exogenous variation in access to CLF resulting from staggered state- level law...

We explored the potential of digital financial education programs among Hispanic populations, through the design and evaluation of a mobile phone delivered digital program called Mind Your Money (MYM). This program sought to improve financial knowledge and behavior among low-to-moderate income...

We examine the two approaches used by equity index funds to track their benchmark index. The first, full replication, mimics the index with exactness. The second, representative sampling, holds a subset of the index. We find that samplers trade 3-4 times more, have 30-50% higher expenses and...

The availability of uncommitted funds is used as a measure of the financial quality of pension funds. Panel logit models with data from the Swiss Pension Fund Statistics are estimated to identify structural characteristics of funds, most of them under control of their foundation board, that...

The ongoing institutional debate wonders whether robo advice may potentially bridge the advice gap, by reaching both ‘underserved' and ‘excluded' investors, who are unable to fully access the service. The present work aims to investigate the factors that may trigger both potential and actual...

We start by considering some of the key reasons behind the academic and industry interest in robo-advisors. We discuss how robo-advice could potentially address some fundamental problems in investors’ decision making as well as in traditional financial advice. We then move on to some of the...

This paper examines how digital finance development affects household risk sharing in China. We provide convincing evidence that households that experience idiosyncratic negative shocks on income growth exhibit a disproportionally lower level of reduction in idiosyncratic consumption growth in...

Institutional investors located in cities with social norms friendlier towards the environment (“green” cities) are sensitive to corporate environmental practices. Their portfolios are tilted away from stocks exhibiting negative environmental practices, particularly those headquartered in...

Purpose: Lack of access to credit is commonly held responsible for slow agricultural and rural development in low- and middle-income countries. This paper aims to investigate the contribution of demand- and supply-side factors, particularly the role of risk rationing, on credit application and...