We analyze an oligopolistic microcredit market characterized by asymmetric information and institutions that can offer only one type of contract. We study the effects of competition on contract choice when small entrepreneurs can borrow from more than one institution due to the absence of credit bureaus. We show that appropriate contract design can eliminate the ex-ante incentives for multiple ...

For many households, paying lower borrowing costs is the surest, fastest way to increase net worth. Using administrative, credit bureau and survey data on U.S. credit cards, we find pervasive and systematic cross-individual variation in borrowing costs. Credit risk and product differentiation explain about one-third of that variation. The remaining riskadjusted dispersion can materially affect ...

We develop a general model of lending in the presence of endogenous borrowing constraints. Borrowing constraints arise because borrowers face limited liability and debt repayment cannot be perfectly enforced. In the model, the dynamics of debt are closely linked with the dynamics of borrowing constraints. In fact, borrowing constraints must satisfy a dynamic consistency requirement: the value o...

We develop a general model of lending in the presence of endogenous borrowing constraints. Borrowing constraints arise because borrowers face limited liability and debt repayment cannot be perfectly enforced. In the model, the dynamics of debt are closely linked with the dynamics of borrowing constraints. In fact, borrowing constraints must satisfy a dynamic consistency requirement: The value o...

Abstract This paper explores the implications of technological progress in consumer lending. The model features households whose endowment risk is private information, and intermediaries which observe a noisy signal of each borrower’s default risks. To offer a lending contract, an intermediary incurs a fixed cost. Each lending contract is comprised of an interest rate, a borrowing limit and a s...

We extend the theoretical model of external corporate financing to the case when the buyers of the borrowing firm may default during the financing period. In our setup there is an asymmetric information and hence moral hazard between the lender and the borrower concerning the effrts of the borrower. We define the optimal debt contract in two cases. In the symmetric case the lender and the borro...

Financial constraints and entrepreneurship are among the key factors affecting economic performance in developing countries. Emphasizing the link between the theory microfoundations and the data, the paper considers a heterogeneous agents model of occupational choice with moral hazard under three Þnancial contract regimes differing in their degree of market incompleteness: savings only, borrowi...