We study the impact of trust on the expansion of online lending in the U.S. over the 2008-2016 period. Using data from the largest platform, we demonstrate that a misconduct-driven decline of trust in traditional banking is associated with a statistically and economically significant increase in...

Many online platforms adopt the ad-sponsored business model, which involves offering free services to consumers while collecting their data and selling targeted advertising space to advertisers. However, collecting consumer data has raised growing privacy concerns, which may affect consumers’...