Are women better loan officers? (2009) by Thorsten Beck, Patrick Behr, Andre Güttler
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Loans by female borrowers and borrowers screened and monitored by female loan officers are less likely to turn problematic.
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We find that female loan officers experience a lower share of problem loans both in the case of male and of female borrowers.
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The effects are much stronger and more robust for first loans than for subsequent loans to the same borrower.
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Female loan officers are not better because they are more experienced. Female loan officers are, on average, roughly two years younger than their male counterparts.
Tentative conclusion
- Better performance of female loan officers is explained with better screening capacities on unobserved borrower characteristics (smell test) and/or better monitoring capacities.