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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 70 No. 2-3 2020

Technology is changing lending: Implications for research

Andrew G. Sutherland

MIT Sloan School of Management, USA

open access

Abstract

Costello, Down, and Mehta (2020) trace their slider intervention to deviations from the credit line amount recommended by a credit scoring model. The deviations are followed by larger delinquency declines and bigger sales orders, and Costello et al. interpret these results using discretion-based theories. However, incremental deviations are concentrated on newer clients rather than those the lender has accumulated soft information about. Deviations also appear larger for public than private borrowers. My discussion evaluates whether these results align with discretion-based theories, and explores alternative interpretations based on salience and unique aspects of the trade credit setting. Differences in interpretation aside, the evidence is informative about technological advances in commercial lending. I conclude with an overview of several recent advances and discuss the implications for lending research.

DOI
10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101361
Volume
70
Issue
2-3
Pages
101361
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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