Hayek Program Podcast

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Mario Small delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference on financial institutions and racial inequality—using payday lenders as a lens to understand how place and institutional context shape economic life.Small begins with a deceptively simple question: how often is it easier to reach a payday lender than a traditional bank—and does that vary by neighborhood racial composition? He shows that racial gaps in access and attitudes persist even after accounting for socioeconomic differences, and argues that proximity, convenience, and institutional experience help shape preferences, even as most Americans hold negative views of payday lenders.Together, these insights offer a nuanced account of how neighborhood context and institutional behavior interact to reproduce inequality, challenging simple explanations rooted in individual choice and highlighting the importance of lived experience in economic decision-making.Dr. Mario L. Small is Quet