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Are Information Disclosure Mandates Effective? Evidence from the Credit Card Market

Author

Listed:
  • Elizondo Alan
  • Seira Enrique
Abstract
Consumer protection in financial markets in the form of information disclosure is high on governments agendas, despite the fact that the empirical evidence on its effectiveness is scarce. To measure the impact of Truth-in-Lending-Act-type disclosures on default and indebtedness, as well as of debiasing warning messages and social comparison information, we implement a randomized control trial in the credit card market for a large population of indebted cardholders. We find that providing salient interest rate disclosures has no effect, while social comparisons and debiasing messages have only a odest effect. Other types of disclosures discussed in the paper could have larger effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizondo Alan & Seira Enrique, 2014. "Are Information Disclosure Mandates Effective? Evidence from the Credit Card Market," Working Papers 2014-18, Banco de México.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2014-18
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    File URL: https://www.banxico.org.mx/publications-and-press/banco-de-mexico-working-papers/%7B8EF5674F-2632-DFD0-5EAA-23D80EE49E43%7D.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sule Alan & Mehmet Cemalcılar & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2015. "Unshrouding Effects on Demand for a Costly Add-on: Evidence from Bank Overdrafts in Turkey," NBER Working Papers 20956, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Wang, Jialan & Burke, Kathleen, 2022. "The effects of disclosure and enforcement on payday lending in Texas," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 489-507.
    3. Ulrike Malmendier, 2016. "The Bidder's Curse: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(4), pages 1195-1213, April.
    4. Cañón, Carlos & Cortés, Edgar & Guerrero, Rodolfo, 2022. "Bank competition and the price of credit: Evidence using Mexican loan-level data," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 56-74.
    5. Bruno Ferman, 2016. "Reading the Fine Print: Information Disclosure in the Brazilian Credit Card Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(12), pages 3534-3548, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit cards; information disclosure; truth in lending; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G4 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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