【报告主题】Pay Transparency and Risk Appetite: Evidence from Mortgage Lending Decisions
【主讲嘉宾】王征，香港城市大学
【报告时间】2025年11月25日 14:00
【报告地点】会计学院106室
【内容提要】
This study examines the impact of state-level adoptions of pay transparency laws (PTLs) on mortgage loan origination and performance. PTL adoptions allow coworkers to openly discuss salaries in the workplace. Within the banking sector, mortgage officers typically belong to the lower-ranked income group. Therefore, PTL adoptions can increase mortgage officers’ awareness of their relative pay disadvantage. We thus find that these officers become more aggressive in loan originations and the loans they originated have higher delinquency rates, suggesting a deterioration in loan quality. These effects are stronger in regions with greater income disparities within the banking sector or in those with a more risk-prone culture. Collectively, our findings suggest that pay transparency can increase mortgage bankers’ risk appetite.