Bankruptcy Exemption and Peer-to-Peer Lending

The effects of personal bankruptcy law on the activities of traditional credit markets have attracted significant interests in many studies. In this study, we focus on the online Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending market, and empirically investigate whether and to what extent personal bankruptcy law may affect the borrowing and lending activities in the P2P market. We find that state bankruptcy exemptions are positively associated with the likelihood of loan rejections and loan defaults. In addition, we document that state bankruptcy exmptions are associated with higher interest rates, and this effect is more prominent for wealthier borrowers. We also report that state bankruptcy exemptions are associated with smaller loan amount, and this effect is more prominent for borrowers with lower levels of assets. Our results are consistent with theories that state bankruptcy exemptions redistribute credit to wealthier borrowers.