Title: Mortgage lenders’ diversity policies and mortgage lending to minorities

Speaker: Ruyun (Ivy) Feng, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison 

Host: Shuo Li, Assistant Professor, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

Time: 14:00–15:30, Friday, July 3, 2026 

Venue: Room A407, Pao Siu Loong Library, Antai College, Xuhui Campus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

Brief introduction of the content: 

Credit access is central to homeownership, yet racial disparities in mortgage lending persist. While lenders have increasingly adopted diversity policies, it is unknown whether and how such policies impact mortgage lending disparities. Using a robust difference-in-differences design, we find that diversity policies widen approval disparities, reducing origination rates for minority borrowers. Results from an instrumental variables approach and event-study design support a causal relation. Ex-post loan performance suggests the widened disparities cannot be fully explained by application risks. Mechanism analysis indicates that a stigma effect in approval decisions, triggered by an increase in risky minority applications, likely plays a role. 

Speaker's profile: 

Ruyun (Ivy) Feng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at the Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin–Madison. She joined the school in August 2020. Her research interests cover disclosure, labor markets, and household finance. She holds a B.S. in Finance and Investment from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, an M.S. in Quantitative and Computational Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Accounting from Georgia State University, and a Ph.D. in Accounting from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. 

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