The study, published on 16 July, used a match-pair “mystery shopper” test, where a Black and a white applicant with nearly identical business profiles and strong credit histories would contact the same bank.
In 27 of the 63 cases, white business owners received more favorable treatment than the Black business owners.
Sterling Bone, one of the study’s authors and a professor of marketing at Utah State University, tells ABC News that one of the goals was to measure how often bank representatives offered applicants the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
