Department of Finance, Ivy College of Business, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 May 7;116(19):9293-9302. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1903592116. Epub 2019 Apr 16.
Using massive US mortgage lending data, we propose a method to infer a borrower's sexual orientation indirectly without a self-identification requirement and demonstrate the method's potential to approximately measure the sexual orientation of the US population at the local level annually over decades. We continue to examine the lending practices to same-sex borrowers and its spillover effects. The persistent results since 1990 reveal that, in contrast with otherwise comparable different-sex loan applicants, the approval rate for same-sex applicants is ∼3-8% lower. Furthermore, conditional on approval, lenders, on average, charge about 0.02-0.2% higher interest to same-sex borrowers, which is equivalent to an annual total of $8.6 million to $86 million in additional interest/fees nationwide. Meanwhile, we find that same-sex borrowers are less risky overall, as they exhibit similar default risk but lower prepayment risk. Finally, we document findings of spillover effects. That is, when the share of a neighborhood's same-sex population increases, both same-sex and different-sex borrowers seem to experience more unfavorable lending outcomes overall. The findings should raise enough concerns to warrant further investigations.
利用美国大量的抵押贷款数据，我们提出了一种间接推断借款人性取向的方法，无需自我识别要求，并证明了该方法在数十年间每年都能在当地大致衡量美国人口的性取向。我们继续研究向同性借款人提供贷款的情况及其溢出效应。自 1990 年以来的持续结果表明，与其他可比的异性贷款申请人相比，同性贷款申请人的批准率低约 3-8%。此外，在获得批准的情况下，平均而言，贷款人向同性借款人收取的利息要高出约 0.02-0.2%，这相当于全国范围内每年额外收取 860 万美元至 8600 万美元的利息/费用。同时，我们发现同性借款人的总体风险较低，因为他们的违约风险相似，但提前还款风险较低。最后，我们记录了溢出效应的发现。也就是说，当一个社区同性人口的比例增加时，同性和异性借款人似乎总体上都会面临更不利的贷款结果。这些发现应该引起足够的关注，值得进一步调查。
