Fintech credit markets around the world: empirical evidence on the lights and shadows of financial innovation

The FinTech revolution has been reshaping credit markets around the world. Over the past few years, fintech credit has overgrown across economies thanks to the proliferation of online platforms that are not operated by traditional lenders. While banks and other incumbents remain the primary source of funding for firms and consumers, especially in economies where capital markets are the chief source of finance, following the 2008 financial crisis and the digital transformation, new players in entrepreneurial finance have emerged. These types of credit include Crowdfunding platforms that allow founders of for-profit, cultural or social projects to obtain funding from the "crowd" without intermediaries. Financial innovations and the new instruments available have been shown to have a critical role in democratizing credit access to unbanked and thin-file consumers and improving the quality of financial services, such as greater transparency and faster services, for those already well served by the traditional lenders. However, fintech credit solutions are not a panacea. Some of their dark sides have arisen, such as the improper conduct of fintech platforms in detecting potential fraudulent behavior by borrowers or negligent behavior in assessing borrowers' credit risk. The academic literature on Crowdfunding has been deeply growing over the last decade. However, some issues concerning this topic are still limited analyzed and discussed. This doctoral thesis investigates the fintech credit market in Europe and Nord America, representing the higher-performing developing countries utilizing new innovative funding sources, excluding Mainland China. Specifically, the three papers that constitute this work explore how Crowdfunding promotes and supports entrepreneurship's growth, the factors that affect the success of crowdfunding projects, and the main dark sides of the novel funding tools. The following research questions are drawn from the discussion above and are the following: (i) What are the economic forces that can affect the born and development of crowdfunding platforms? (ii) What is the role of a country's cultural and policy dimensions on the adoption of Crowdfunding? (iii) And, what is the role of Fintech platforms in assessing borrowers' credit risk? Are they similar to the traditional intermediary? Answers to these questions can better understand the functioning of crowdfunding markets, making more aware investors, borrowers, and all stakeholders regarding the shadows and lights of alternative funding sources.