Job Market Candidates 2023/24
Ph.D. Program in Economics

Education

Ph.D., Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt, GSEFM program, 2024 (expected)
M.Sc., Applied Economics, John Hopkins University USA, 2016
B.A., Business Administration and American Studies, Sogang University Korea, 2012

Fields of Specialization

FinTech, Financial Intermediation, Household and Consumer Finance, and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Teaching Areas

FinTech, Financial Intermediation, Consumer Finance

Curriculum Vitae

Click here to download the CV.

References

Job Market Paper

Open Banking and Customer Data Sharing: Implications for Fintech Borrowers

JFI/FIRS Ph.D. Student Paper Award, FIRS Annual Conference 2023
Best Ph.D. Paper Award, Future of Financial Information 2023 (sponsored by BlackRock)
Best Paper in Digital Finance, DGF German Finance Association 2023
Finalist, ECB Young Economic Prize 2023

Regulatory Reference: Proposed rule on Personal Financial Data Rights, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S.

Abstract: Open banking allows loan applicants to easily share payment data with prospective lenders during loan applications. In theory, this could broaden credit access by reducing information asymmetry but may also lead to price discrimination that exploits individuals’ preferences and behavioral traits. This paper studies the impact of open banking on prospective borrowers and lends empirical support to the sizable benefits of data-sharing driven by improved inferences about borrower credit quality. Using loan application data from a leading German FinTech lender in consumer credit, I show that applicants with observably higher credit risk (with lower credit scores) are more likely to share data. By exploiting the variation of data sharing choices from observably similar applicants, I document that data sharing increases loan approval rates, reduces interest rates, and is associated with lower ex post default rates. These findings suggest that open banking can enhance credit allocation efficiency and reduce adverse selection.

Other Papers

Cybercrime on the Ethereum Blockchain
with Lars Hornuf, Paul P. Momtaz, and Ye Yuan

Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Banking and Finance

Best Paper Award, Annual Boca Corporate Finance and Governance Conference 2022
Media coverage: Duke FinReg Blog, Decrypt, CoinTribune

Abstract: We propose a taxonomy of cybercrime on the Ethereum blockchain and examine how cybercrime impacts victims’ risk-taking and returns. Our difference-in-differences analysis of a sample of victims and matched non-victims suggests that victims increase their long-term total risk-taking and earn lower risk-adjusted returns in the post-cybercrime period. Victims’ long-term total risk-taking increases because they increase diversifiable risk in the long term. The increased diversifiable risk correlates with victims’ withdrawal from altcoins after cybercrime. At the same time, the reduction in risk-adjusted returns correlates with increased trading activity and churn, due plausibly to managing cybercrime exposure. In the cross-section of Ethereum addresses, we show that the most-affluent victims take a systematic approach to restore their pre-cybercrime wealth level, while the least-affluent victims turn into gamblers. Finally, a parsimonious forensic model explains a good part of the addresses’ probability of being involved in cybercrime, both on the victim and the cybercriminal side.

Work in Progress:

“Risk and Returns of Liquidity Provision in Decentralized Exchanges", with Igor Makarov (LSE) and Antoinette Schoar (MIT)

“Securitization and Specialization: the Role of Fintech and Online Banks in a Segmented Market", with Laura Bottazzi (University of Bologna), Chiara Farronato (Harvard Business School), Loriana Pelizzon (Goethe University/Leibniz Institute SAFE)”