Unfair credit allocations

This article investigates the impact of credit allocation on heterogeneous wealth entrepre- neurs. We show that with decreasing risk aversion and unobservable wealth, poorer borrowers exert more effort. As a consequence of endogenous adverse selection, they are either excluded from the market or necessarily subsidize richer borrowers in a pooling equilibrium resulting in a paradoxical and inequitable redistribution. Alternatively, a less likely separating equilibrium may occur, in which poor types bear the entire weight of separation in the form of excess risk taking.