Abstract
The effects of public and private initiatives intended to promote financial inclusion differ substantially across geographic locations and consumers' groups. This Ph. D. dissertation examines how the differences in the competitive interaction of financial institutions contribute to explain these disparities, and illustrates how taking them into account can improve the effectiveness of policy interventions and technological innovations that are taking place in developing and industrialized economies.
Chapter 2 analyzes the competitive interaction between financial institutions specialized in microfinance and banks with a conventional portfolio of services in Colombia, and explores the implications for designing policies that promote financial access in areas with lower availability of branches. Chapter 3 explores the welfare implications of the relaxation of a regulatory ceiling applied to micro-loans' interest rates in Colombia. Ceilings on interest rates are a widely used policy tool to protect consumers from excessive charges by loan providers, but they can limit financial institutions' incentives for opening branches in remote locations or providing loans to certain borrowers. The approach developed here measures how consumers value the changes in the interest rates and the increased availability of branches across different geographic locations, to find out whether this policy was welfare improving.
Chapters 2 and 3 explore a scenario where credit access is tightly linked to the presence of a physical branch of a financial institution. However, technological innovations are changing how consumers demand financial services, particularly in industrialized economies. Chapter 4 examines incumbent lenders' response in the United States' mortgage industry to the advent of lenders that allow potential borrowers to complete their mortgage application process online (FinTech lenders). The results suggest that local lenders can better differentiate from FinTech institutions by offering more appealing services to some
Chapter 2 analyzes the competitive interaction between financial institutions specialized in microfinance and banks with a conventional portfolio of services in Colombia, and explores the implications for designing policies that promote financial access in areas with lower availability of branches. Chapter 3 explores the welfare implications of the relaxation of a regulatory ceiling applied to micro-loans' interest rates in Colombia. Ceilings on interest rates are a widely used policy tool to protect consumers from excessive charges by loan providers, but they can limit financial institutions' incentives for opening branches in remote locations or providing loans to certain borrowers. The approach developed here measures how consumers value the changes in the interest rates and the increased availability of branches across different geographic locations, to find out whether this policy was welfare improving.
Chapters 2 and 3 explore a scenario where credit access is tightly linked to the presence of a physical branch of a financial institution. However, technological innovations are changing how consumers demand financial services, particularly in industrialized economies. Chapter 4 examines incumbent lenders' response in the United States' mortgage industry to the advent of lenders that allow potential borrowers to complete their mortgage application process online (FinTech lenders). The results suggest that local lenders can better differentiate from FinTech institutions by offering more appealing services to some
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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| Supervisors/Advisors |
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| Award date | 7 Dec 2020 |
| Place of Publication | Tilburg |
| Publisher | |
| Print ISBNs | 978 90 5668 635 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |