Have Differences in Credit Access Diminished in an Era of Financial Market Deregulation

Bibliographic Data

ID9255671
AuthorsChristian E Weller (0000-0002-6632-1654, Center for American Progress, corresponding author), Christian Weller
Year2010
Volume68
Issue1
Pages1-34
Publication date2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Social Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-6764 • E-ISSN: 1470-1162
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00346760902908690
OpenAlexW2098314872
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited45

Over the past few decades, financial markets became increasingly deregulated and household debt expanded, sometimes rapidly. It is thus possible that greater deregulation led to improved credit access and lower cost of credit for typically underserved groups, such as minorities and low-income families, relative to their counterparts. Credit access is measured here by loan denials, discouraged applications. The cost of credit is measured by debt payments relative to debt. Differences in credit access and the cost of credit should have diminished over time, particularly after 2000, after large-scale deregulation had taken place. Differences by demographic groups over time are tested using multivariate tests based on data from the Federal Reserve's Survey Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2004. While some minority groups found increasing credit access after 2000, credit became increasingly more expensive relative to whites due to a less advantageous composition of debt or higher interest rate differentials. Importantly, growing differences in debt composition and interest rates contradict the expectation of credit market equalization after deregulation

Bond market · Business · Credit crunch · Credit history · Credit reference · Credit risk · Debt · Deregulation · Economics · Financial system · Interest rate · Loan · Macroeconomics · Monetary economics · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency · Finance · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Housing Market and Economics

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