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The Changing Landscape of Financial Services in Manitoba: A Location Analysis of Payday Lenders, Banks and Credit Unions ABSTRACT This study traces the emergence and expansion of payday lending outlets in Winnipeg and the rural Manitoba communities of Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Thompson and Dauphin during the period 1980-2009, in order to look for shifts over time in the site location strategies of payday lenders relative to mainstream banks. Location analysis, in the context of financial exclusion theory, is used to examine the spatial void hypothesis that mainstream banks have played a role in the rise of payday lending in poor neighbourhoods where traditional bank branches are absent or under-represented. It also considers evidence for the spatial complement hypothesis that payday lenders are not geographic substitutes for mainstream banks but are instead spatial complements, serving different segments of shared markets. Results of the goodness-of-fit test and location analysis based on population data suggest that the payday lending industry in Manitoba is not exclusively located in lower income neighbourhoods or solely located in areas where there is an absence or reduced presence of bank and credit union branches. Moreover, newer, suburban and rural payday lender outlets are almost always located next to mainstream banks and credit unions. The exception would be Winnipeg’s inner-city, where payday lenders are more densely located and where mainstream banks have gradually retreated. While multi-service establishments are shown to have first gained a foothold in poor neighbourhoods as cheque-cashers, this study examines the extent to which a focus on payday loans as the lead product has been accompanied by a shift to middle-income, suburban neighbourhoods and rural communities over the study period. The results of descriptive and OLS multivariate regression analyses provide further evidence of the changing relationship of location patterns of payday lenders to neighborhood characteristics, including mainstream bank presence, income level, poverty status, population density, age, education, family type and ethnicity. The implications these findings have for ongoing policy discussions about the status of the payday loan industry in Canada are discussed. JEL Classification code: G21 - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Microfinance Institutions; Mortgages

The Changing Landscape of Financial Services in Manitoba: A Location Analysis of Payday Lenders, Banks and Credit Unions ABSTRACT This study traces the emergence and expansion of payday lending outlets in Winnipeg and the rural Manitoba communities of Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Thompson and Dauphin during the period 1980-2009, in order to look for shifts over time in the site location strategies of payday lenders relative to mainstream banks. Location analysis, in the context of financial exclusion theory, is used to examine the spatial void hypothesis that mainstream banks have played a role in the rise of payday lending in poor neighbourhoods where traditional bank branches are absent or under-represented. It also considers evidence for the spatial complement hypothesis that payday lenders are not geographic substitutes for mainstream banks but are instead spatial complements, serving different segments of shared markets. Results of the goodness-of-fit test and location analysis based on population data suggest that the payday lending industry in Manitoba is not exclusively located in lower income neighbourhoods or solely located in areas where there is an absence or reduced presence of bank and credit union branches. Moreover, newer, suburban and rural payday lender outlets are almost always located next to mainstream banks and credit unions. The exception would be Winnipeg’s inner-city, where payday lenders are more densely located and where mainstream banks have gradually retreated. While multi-service establishments are shown to have first gained a foothold in poor neighbourhoods as cheque-cashers, this study examines the extent to which a focus on payday loans as the lead product has been accompanied by a shift to middle-income, suburban neighbourhoods and rural communities over the study period. The results of descriptive and OLS multivariate regression analyses provide further evidence of the changing relationship of location patterns of payday lenders to neighborhood characteristics, including mainstream bank presence, income level, poverty status, population density, age, education, family type and ethnicity. The implications these findings have for ongoing policy discussions about the status of the payday loan industry in Canada are discussed. JEL Classification code: G21 - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Microfinance Institutions; Mortgages

The economics of information is a relatively new and important field of economics. This dissertation analyzes the role of information in three case studies within three different branches of economics: health economics, environmental economics, and finance and banking. First I analyze parental nutritional label usage and its effect of children's dietary outcomes (i.e. Health Eating Index and Body Mass Index). I show that parental usage of nutritional labels is associated with a better quality of their children's diet as well as an overall improvement in their health as measured by their Body Mass Index. Secondly, I study the behavioral effect of length of residency on water demand in the arid cities of Reno and Sparks in Nevada. In this case, I observe that social interaction among households affects their water usage. In particular, newcomers' watering behaviors are influenced by the prevailing social norms among neighbors that have lived in the arid area for a longer period of time. Finally, I compare the performance of local versus larger national and regional lending institutions in the years leading to the 2007 mortgage crisis. I find that local or community lenders have a significantly lower foreclosure rate during these years. Local lenders presumably base their origination decisions on an interpersonal relationship with their customers. This provides them with information that is not contained within the standard risk metrics generally used in loan applications. I discuss the policy implications of these results for each case study. / Ph. D.

<p>The agriculture industry relies heavily on credit to facilitate investments in essential inputs such as equipment, seeds, and fertilizers. Traditional sources of credit, including commercial banks and the Farm Credit System (FCS), have long served as the primary options for farmers. However, nontraditional lenders like agricultural retailers have emerged as viable financing alternatives. This study examines how farmers utilize the FCS, commercial banks, and agricultural retailers to finance capital and expendable goods. Additionally, factors such as age, education, farm size, and managing preferences are evaluated to understand their impact on financing choices. An ordered logit regression model is employed to analyze the data and investigate the factors influencing farmers' decisions. The results reveal that as farmers age, they are more likely to finance capital goods through vendors/retailers due to established long-term relationships. Smaller farms tend to finance a higher percentage of capital costs, driven by the relative price per unit of capital goods. Farmers who prioritize cost control are inclined to rely less on agricultural retailers, aiming for a lower debt-to-asset ratio. The study findings also indicate that analytical decision makers borrow less from dealers compared to intuitive decision makers. Notably, as farm size increases, farmers are more likely to finance a larger portion (76-100%) of capital and expendable goods through dealer financing. This suggests that larger and more successful farms possess a more diverse portfolio and valuable assets, enabling greater borrowing capacity. Young and beginning farmers often use vendor financing to enhance credit and expand their collateralizable assets. However, participant bias and missing data on several variables limit the study's scope. Future research could delve deeper into the relationship between analytical decision makers and farmers' lending preferences. Additionally, given the growing shift toward online banking in the lending and finance industry, exploring farmers' online banking usage and predictions for future usage would provide valuable insights into their lender selection process. </p>

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Christine Wilson / Allen Featherstone / The objectives of this thesis are to examine the banking strategy of Kansas farmers and to analyze the determinants of lender choice among Kansas farmers. To meet these objectives, econometric analysis was used to examine the financial characteristics of the farm that affect the number of banking relationships and the probability a farmer has a loan with a respective lender. The financial characteristics include variables representing the solvency, liquidity, and profitability of the farm. To analyze banking strategy, a poisson model was estimated to determine how the financial characteristics of the farm affect the number of banking relationships used by the farmer. The solvency, liquidity, and profitability of a farmer was analyzed to examine how these measures affect how many banking relationships the respective farmer has. Additionally, a panel data fixed effects model was used to analyze how the number of banking relationships affects the net farm income of the farm. To analyze the determinants of lender choice for Kansas farmers, six probit models were used to determine how farm and financial characteristics, including dollar amount of inventory for certain assets and dollar amount of loans, affect the probabililty the farmer has a loan with the respective lender. A Heckman selection model was used to further analyze the dollar amount of loans a farmer has with a respective lender using information from the probit models. Results of the study show that the higher the debt to asset ratio the farmer has, the more banking relationships the respective farmer has. It was also found that the amount of inventory for certain asset classifications, dollar amount loans, and the financial characteristics affect the lender the farmer chooses to use.

The crisis of the mortgage market and the mortgage-backed security (MBS) market in 2008 had dramatic negative effects in dragging down all of the economy on a worldwide scale. Many researches have, therefore, attempted to explore the influencing factors on mortgage default risk. This project, in cooperation with the company EnerScore, revolves around discovering a correlation between portfolios of mortgages to underlying energy expenditures. EnerScore€™s core product provides an internal dataset related to home energy efficiency for American homes and gives their corresponding home energy efficiency rating to every home, which is called an €œEnerScore.€� This project involves discovering a correlation between default within portfolios of mortgages based on underlying energy expenditures. The goal is to show that energy efficient homes potentially have lower default risks than standard homes because the homes which lack energy efficiency are associated with higher energy costs. This leaves less money to make the mortgage payment, and thereby increases default risk. The first phase of this project involves finding a foreclosure dataset that will be used to design the quantitative model. Due to limited availability and constraints related to default data, Google search query data is used to develop a broad based and real-time index of mortgage default risk and establish a meaningful scientific correlation. After analyzing several statistical models to explore this correlation, the regression tree model showed that the EnerScore is a strong predictor for mortgage default risk when using city-level mortgage default risk data and EnerScore data.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / Micro-lending has long been a controversial issue. Although old-age pensioners are excited about the opportunity of accessing credit from micro-lenders, some are exploited. The aim of the study was to investigate how old-age pensioners fall prey for micro-lenders, who charge them high interest on small short-term loans. The exploratory design was used for this investigation because it would provide the researcher with an in-depth understanding of old-age pensioners’ experiences when dealing with micro-lenders. The study is based on a case study of the three villages, Mphagani, Zava, and Khashane (MZK), in the rural areas of Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo province. Most old persons are reliant on social grants to support themselves and their extended families. Sometimes they need to supplement their income because of the responsibilities that they have in their families. Micro-finance institutions are targeting women because they are likely to be more reliable as borrowers and increased income is more likely to accrue to the family and especially children. The results of the study show that majority of old-age pensioners take loans from micro-lenders. The reasons for borrowing micro loans are categorized into four major needs for money: purchase of food, payment for health-care services, funerals, and education. These micro-lenders are not compliant with the rules and procedures of the National Credit Act.

Introduction: 1 November 2010  came the amendment about the audit requirement into force. The amendment concerned only micro-enterprises. The most common form offinancing for micro-enterprises are bank loans, therefore the banks play a major role in the business and wellness of micro-enterprises. Purpose: Purpose of this paper is to examine if the credit assessment has been affected by the removal of the audit requirement for micro-enterprises. Method: This study will be conducted by a qualitative study in the form of interviews. Five interviews were conducted, with four respondents from the large banks and    one respondent from Almi Företagspartner. Conclusion: All respondents agreed that the audit is seen as a mark of quality, some lenders will continue to request it from the micro-enterprise while other lenders look at other factors such as ownership, relationship or business concept.