Peer-To-Peer Lending Market in China: Pricing, Risk Management and Regulation, 2010-2018

The dataset was compiled from a Chinese online lending platform for the research project titled `Peer-To-Peer Lending Market in China: Pricing, Risk Management and Regulation,’ Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant ES/P004741/1. The data were in public domain. The dataset includes about 7.5 million listings posted over the period between October 2010 and October 2018.
The project follows General Data Protection Regulations and conforms to data confidentiality and anonymisation. Several variables that could result in the identification of borrowers or lenders have been deleted.<p>The research project focuses on P2P loan applications to a major Chinese lender from its start-up in 2010 to December 2016 (some 800,000 in total), collecting all information provided by the borrowers in support of their applications. This includes both quantitative and qualitative data about their employment status, income, personal details, their credit histories and loan purposes. The data will enable us to examine how borrowers present themselves and the effect of this on lender behaviour - i.e. the conditions of loans offered.
Using this data, the project examines: a) The factors that influence lenders' decisions - who to lend to, what conditions to impose. How do lenders discriminate between borrowers? b) How soft information about borrowers affects lenders' decisions. Does it improve their assessment of borrower risk? c) Whether there is an incentive for borrowers to misrepresent their income in order to improve their chances of obtaining a loan or the terms offered. The project will examine whether misreporting by borrowers affects lender decisions and loan outcomes. d) Whether lenders are affected by other lenders' decisions, and if so whether they are likely to operate rationally. e) How information about external events (e.g. publicity given to frauds on lenders) as exogenous shocks affects borrower and lender behaviours. f) How major regulation changes in 2015 have affected borrower and lender behaviours.</p>

本数据集取自某中国在线借贷平台，服务于编号为ES/P004741/1的经济与社会研究委员会（Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC）课题《中国点对点借贷市场：定价、风险管理与监管》的研究项目。该数据属于公有领域范畴。数据集涵盖2010年10月至2018年10月期间发布的约750万条借款标的。

本项目遵循《通用数据保护条例》（General Data Protection Regulations, GDPR），严格符合数据保密与匿名化规范。所有可能用于识别借款人和出借人的变量均已被移除。

本研究聚焦2010年平台初创至2016年12月期间，向该中国主流在线借贷平台提交的P2P（Peer-to-Peer）借款申请（总计约80万条），全面收集借款人用于支撑借款申请的全部填报信息，涵盖借款人就业状况、收入水平、个人信息、信用历史及借款用途等定量与定性数据。此类数据可用于探究借款人的自我呈现方式及其对出借人行为的影响——即所获批借款的条款条件。

依托该数据集，本项目将开展以下研究：
a) 影响出借人决策的核心因素：出借人如何遴选借款对象、设定借款条款？出借人会对不同借款人产生何种歧视性差异？
b) 借款人的软信息（soft information）如何影响出借人决策？此类信息能否提升出借人对借款人风险的评估精度？
c) 借款人是否存在虚报收入以提升借款获批概率或优化借款条款的动机？本项目将探究借款人的收入虚报行为是否会对出借人决策及借款结果产生影响。
d) 出借人是否会受其他出借人决策的波及？若存在此类影响，出借人的行为是否仍符合理性决策逻辑？
e) 外部事件（如针对出借人的欺诈事件曝光）作为外生冲击，将如何作用于借款人和出借人的行为模式？
f) 2015年出台的重大监管政策调整，将如何改变借款人和出借人的行为逻辑？