El capital social en el riesgo crediticio

Abstract

Asymmetric information, credit rationing, moral hazard, and adverse selection characterize finance markets. In these situations, the borrower’s relational characteristics of social capital are relevant for lenders and borrowers as they increase the possibility of access to financing (generate financial inclusion), reducing default rate, and transaction cost since they expand social capital information channels while increasing capacity to afford obligations. This investigation analyses the relationship between social capital and credit risk, suggesting that social capital reduces the probability and intensity of default, interaction increased in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative analysis of said behavior uses data collected from “Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Jardín Azuayo” (COACJA) from Ecuador, where the Hurdle econometric model with negative binomial distribution is applied. Results show that some variables generate social capital and variables resulting from such social capital identified on an individual and contextual level, evidencing significant effects to reduce the probability and intensity of default on different risk levels. Moreover, it is observed that the effect of the variables higher education and trust between people increases in the pandemic year