Time: 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jun.3, 2025

Location: 105, Lidasan Building

Topic: The Bright Side of Withholding Information: Evidence from Credit Check Bans

Speaker: Professor Wei Li (City University of Hong Kong)

Host: Professor Tanlin Zhong

Abstract: State-level credit check bans (CCBs) restrict employers from screening employees based on their credit reports. This paper examines the effect of staggered CCB adoptions on financially motivated crimes. We find that counties in states implementing CCBs experience a 14% reduction in the number of financial crimes. This reduction is more pronounced in counties with a higher percentage of residents that likely have negative credit information, e.g., residents with high debt burdens, low educational attainment, and foreign-born or minority residents. Further analyses suggest that CCBs reduce financial crime by increasing the job-finding rates of persistently unemployed individuals, particularly in sectors not exempted from CCBs. Taken together, our findings reveal how limiting employer access to individual credit information generates meaningful societal benefits beyond the labor market.