IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v50y2018i3d10.1007_s11187-017-9878-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing for racial bias in business credit scores

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia Robb

    (University of Colorado at Boulder and University of California, Berkeley)

  • David T. Robinson

    (Duke University and National Bureau of Economic Research, Fuqua School of Business)

Abstract

We develop a novel empirical test of racial bias based on comparisons between forward-looking, expectations-based credit scores and backward-looking, repayment-history-based credit scores. We then test for racial bias using confidential-access data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. Businesses founded by disadvantaged minorities have much lower average business credit scores, but these scores show no evidence of racial bias. If anything, forward-looking credit-score models under-predict the rate of payment delinquency among minority-owned businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia Robb & David T. Robinson, 2018. "Testing for racial bias in business credit scores," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 429-443, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:50:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-017-9878-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-017-9878-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-017-9878-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-017-9878-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Cagetti & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2006. "Entrepreneurship, Frictions, and Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 835-870, October.
    2. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, April.
    3. Berger, Allen N & Frame, W Scott & Miller, Nathan H, 2005. "Credit Scoring and the Availability, Price, and Risk of Small Business Credit," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 191-222, April.
    4. Fairlie, Robert W, 1999. "The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 80-108, January.
    5. Erik Hurst & Annamaria Lusardi, 2004. "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 319-347, April.
    6. W. Scott Frame & Lynn Woosley, 2004. "Credit Scoring and the Availability of Small Business Credit in Low‐ and Moderate‐Income Areas," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 35-54, February.
    7. David G. Blanchflower & Phillip B. Levine & David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Discrimination in the Small-Business Credit Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 930-943, November.
    8. Ken S. Cavalluzzo, 2002. "Competition, Small Business Financing, and Discrimination: Evidence from a New Survey," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 641-680, October.
    9. Ramana Nanda, 2008. "Cost of External Finance and Selection into Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 08-047, Harvard Business School.
    10. Manuel Adelino & Song Ma & David Robinson, 2017. "Firm Age, Investment Opportunities, and Job Creation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(3), pages 999-1038, June.
    11. Janice Ballou & Tom Barton & David DesRoches & Frank Potter & E.J. Reedy & Alicia Robb & Scott Shane & Zhanyun Zhao, "undated". "Kauffman Firm Survey: Results from the Baseline and First Follow-Up Surveys," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 4a8c01fa02f24e7aada8b68dd, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Sandra E. Black & Philip E. Strahan, 2002. "Entrepreneurship and Bank Credit Availability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2807-2833, December.
    13. John C. Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2010. "Who Creates Jobs? Small vs. Large vs. Young," NBER Working Papers 16300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    15. Manju Puri & Rebecca Zarutskie, 2012. "On the Life Cycle Dynamics of Venture-Capital- and Non-Venture-Capital-Financed Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2247-2293, December.
    16. Ken Cavalluzzo & John Wolken, 2005. "Small Business Loan Turndowns, Personal Wealth, and Discrimination," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(6), pages 2153-2178, November.
    17. Allen N. Berger & W. Scott Frame, 2007. "Small Business Credit Scoring and Credit Availability," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 5-22, January.
    18. repec:mpr:mprres:5716 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Lofstrom, Magnus & Wang, Chunbei, 2006. "Hispanic Self-Employment: A Dynamic Analysis of Business Ownership," IZA Discussion Papers 2101, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Timothy Bates & Alicia Robb, 2013. "Greater Access to Capital Is Needed to Unleash the Local Economic Development Potential of Minority-Owned Businesses," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 27(3), pages 250-259, August.
    21. Magnus Lofstrom & Timothy Bates, 2013. "African Americans’ pursuit of self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 73-86, January.
    22. Naranchimeg Mijid & Alexandra Bernasek, 2013. "Decomposing Racial and Ethnic Differences in Small Business Lending: Evidence of Discrimination," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(4), pages 443-473, December.
    23. W. Scott Frame & Michael Padhi & Lynn W. Woosley, 2001. "The effect of credit scoring on small business lending in low- and moderate-income areas," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2001-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    24. Fairlie, Robert, 1999. "The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt84v8v0nr, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    25. Timothy Bates & Alicia Robb, 2016. "Impacts of Owner Race and Geographic Context on Access to Small-Business Financing," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 30(2), pages 159-170, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sabrina T. Howell & Theresa Kuchler & David Snitkof & Johannes Stroebel & Jun Wong, 2021. "Lender Automation and Racial Disparities in Credit Access," NBER Working Papers 29364, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Greenwald, Daniel L. & Howell, Sabrina T. & Li, Cangyuan & Yimfor, Emmanuel, 2024. "Regulatory arbitrage or random errors? Implications of race prediction algorithms in fair lending analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    3. Sabrina T. Howell & Theresa Kuchler & David Snitkof & Johannes Stroebel & Jun Wong, 2021. "Racial Disparities in Access to Small Business Credit: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," CESifo Working Paper Series 9345, CESifo.
    4. Darden, Bryan B. & Kellermanns, Franz W. & Best, Emma L., 2022. "Entrepreneurial fear of failure: Transgender versus cis-gender entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    5. Doris Neuberger & Udo Reifner, 2020. "Systemic Usury and the European Consumer Credit Directive," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 89(1), pages 115-132.
    6. Rachel Atkins & Lisa Cook & Robert Seamans, 2022. "Discrimination in lending? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 843-865, February.
    7. Ewens, Michael, 2022. "Race and Gender in Entrepreneurial Finance," SocArXiv djf8z, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert W. Fairlie, 2013. "Minority and immigrant entrepreneurs: access to financial capital," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 8, pages 153-175, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Fairlie Robert & Woodruff Christopher M., 2010. "Mexican-American Entrepreneurship," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, February.
    3. Robert W. Fairlie, 2013. "Entrepreneurship, Economic Conditions, and the Great Recession," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 207-231, June.
    4. Robert W. Fairlie & Harry A. Krashinsky, 2012. "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, And Entrepreneurship Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(2), pages 279-306, June.
    5. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    6. Aaron K. Chatterji & Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, 2014. "The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 507-561.
    7. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, April.
    8. James R. Barth & Glenn Yago & Betsy Zeidman, 2006. "Stumbling blocks to entrepreneurship in low-and-moderate income communities," Proceedings: Community Affairs Dept. Conferences, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Jul, pages 91-155.
    9. Magnus Lofstrom, 2013. "Does self-employment increase the economic well-being of low-skilled workers?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 933-952, May.
    10. Marios Michaelides, 2017. "Nascent Entrepreneurship and Race: Evidence from the GATE Experiment," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 02-2017, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    11. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2007. "Why Are Black-Owned Businesses Less Successful than White-Owned Businesses? The Role of Families, Inheritances, and Business Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 289-323.
    12. David Blanchflower, 2009. "Minority self-employment in the United States and the impact of affirmative action programs," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 361-396, June.
    13. Chatterji, Aaron K. & Seamans, Robert C., 2012. "Entrepreneurial finance, credit cards, and race," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 182-195.
    14. Alicia M. Robb & Robert W. Fairlie, 2007. "Access to Financial Capital among U.S. Businesses: The Case of African American Firms," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 613(1), pages 47-72, September.
    15. Magnus Lofstrom & Chunbei Wang, 2007. "Mexican-Hispanic Self-Employment Entry: The Role of Business Start-Up Constraints," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 613(1), pages 32-46, September.
    16. Michaelides, Marios, 2010. "Race and self-employment: The role of training programs, self-employment background, and access to financing," MPRA Paper 20884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Timothy Bates & William D. Bradford & Robert Seamans, 2018. "Minority entrepreneurship in twenty-first century America," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 415-427, March.
    18. Magnus Lofstrom & Timothy Bates, 2013. "African Americans’ pursuit of self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 73-86, January.
    19. Robert Fairlie & Alicia Robb & David T. Robinson, 2022. "Black and White: Access to Capital Among Minority-Owned Start-ups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2377-2400, April.
    20. Cole, Rebel & Sokolyk, Tatyana, 2016. "Who needs credit and who gets credit? Evidence from the surveys of small business finances," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 40-60.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business credit scores; Banking·minority entrepreneurship;

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:50:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-017-9878-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.