• Media type: Report; E-Book
  • Title: Numeracy and the quality of on-the-job decisions: Evidence from loan officers
  • Contributor: Brown, Martin [Author]; Kirschenmann, Karolin [Author]; Spycher, Thomas [Author]
  • Published: Mannheim: Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), 2017
  • Language: English
  • Keywords: loan officers ; G21 ; behavioral banking ; numeracy ; J24 ; screening
  • Origination:
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  • Description: We examine how the numeracy level of employees influences the quality of their on-the-job decisions. Based on an administrative dataset of a retail bank we relate the performance of loan officers in a standardized math test to the accuracy of their credit assessments of small business borrowers. We find that loan officers with a high level of numeracy are more accurate in assessing the credit risk of borrowers. The effect is most pronounced during the pre-crisis credit boom period when it is arguably more difficult to pick out risky borrowers.
  • Access State: Open Access