Having access to credit is essential for households to address the volatility of their personal finances over time and for firms to fund their investments. Accessing financial services at affordable cost on the other hand, is crucial to ensure financial security of all economic units. Despite...

Wesentliche Komponenten einer verantwortlichen Kreditvergabe sind ein angemessenes Beratungsgespräch, faire Konditionen und eine Unterstützung durch die Bank in Phasen des Zahlungsverzugs. Der Gesetzgeber legt den Fokus auf Informationspflichten und die Pflicht zu einer angemessenen...

Early distributions from retirement accounts could endanger future retirement income security, and the U.S. has restrictions to discourage them, including possible tax penalties. On the other hand, tapping one's retirement assets may be rational when an individual encounters financial hardship....

We investigate the transformational role of FinTech and robo-advising---just-in-time scalable and portable advice for financial decision-making---in the personal finance industry. We start by describing the unique features that differentiate FinTech and robo-advising from traditional technology...

The access to formal financial services in Mexico is particularly low. Access is also significantly unequal across income levels, gender, between rural and urban areas and across regions. SMEs access to bank credit is low, hampering firms’ ability to grow and innovate. The use of cash and...

Individuals’ access to finance is particularly low in Mexico. Widening access to finance would boost growth and inclusion. This paper uses microdata from the National Survey for Financial Inclusion to assess the drivers of and the barriers to people’s financial inclusion in Mexico. Results...

In this paper, we examine financial literacy and financial resilience in Italy. We show that financial literacy is particularly low among the young, women, and the less educated. We also highlight regional differences in financial knowledge, with individuals in Southern Italy performing worse....

Poor financial capability can erode well-being in later life. To explore debt and debt management among older Americans, age 51-61, we designed and analyzed a new module in the 2018 Health and Retirement Study along with information from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study. Even though...

Using a detailed depositor arrival data from the Freedman's Savings Bank, we examine how social unrest impacts policy makers' goals of increased financial participation and economic integration for minorities. We find that events that imperil public safety also decrease participation in banks....

This paper analyzes how asset prices in a binary market react to information when traders have heterogeneous prior beliefs. We show that the competitive equilibrium price underreacts to information when there is a bound to the amount of money traders are allowed to invest. Underreaction is more...