Projects
Fintech, Bank Branch Closings, and Mortgage Markets
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This paper studies whether bank branch closures affect fintech mortgage lending in the U.S. using data for the 1999–2016 period. My identification exploits granular exposure to post-merger branch consolidation. I find that branch closures lead to a persistent increase in fintech lending. Fintech mortgages grow by a total of 8% relative to non-closure tracts in the nine years that follow a closing, while bank mortgage lending falls by 44%. The results show a strong substitution pattern and are driven by wealthier areas and areas with relatively smaller populations of women, seniors, and minorities.
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Bridging the Gap? A Theoretical Analysis of the Net Effect of FinTech Entry on Access to Credit
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with José E. Gutierrez (Banco de España)
The rise of FinTech lenders offers an opportunity to promote financial access but may disrupt banks’ banking efforts. This paper presents a banking model where an incumbent bank specializes in some niche markets. When FinTech enters, it intensifies competition for certain niches, reducing the bank’s lending relationship gains. Although FinTech serves some unattended niches, the bank may abandon others, creating an ambiguous impact on financial inclusion. The overall effect depends on the initial level of financial inclusion and on FinTech’s efficiency and competitiveness.
How Selective Access to Financial Information Affects How Investors Learn
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with Gaël Le Mens (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
In this paper, we compare learning in two common settings in financial markets. One in which investors can observe the outcome of an investment alternative only if they invest in it, and another in which investors can always observe the outcome of an investment, even if they do not invest. We provide empirical evidence that investors’ beliefs are closer to the objective Bayesian beliefs given the observed information when investors are in a setting where they have access to financial information because of endogenous choice. We propose a mechanism that explains our findings. We show that the endogenous creation of the sample of information triggers different cognitive processes. These alternative processes cause better information processing and are of enough magnitude to help overcome the effect of sampling errors.
Ongoing Research
Replicating Bruhin, Fehr, & Schunk 2019 (R&R European Economic Review)
with Ernesto Gavassa; Natalia Melgar; David Puig; José Rivero
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Bank Branches and SMEs credit
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Effects of Financial Digitalization: Evidence from the Spanish Credit Registry
with José E. Gutierrez
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Typicality, Crowdfunding Success and Large Language Models
with Gaël Le Mens
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Is Greening Cities Profitable?
Insights from Residential Sustainability Certifications
with Jaume Roig Hernando, and Jackeline Rosario Campana Vargas
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Decarbonizing Existing Residential Properties
with Jaume Roig Hernando, and Clara González López
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Shortsighted Meditators? The Effects of Mindfulness on Inter-temporal Choice
with Daniel Navarro-Martinez, Jordi Quoidbach, and Andrés Martín-Asuero
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