Abstract:
This paper examines whether responsible institutional investors affect corporate green capital expenditures. I identify responsible investors via the Climate Action 100+ initiative and measure green capital expenditures with green debt issuance. Given regional differences in investor sustainability preferences, I exploit the cross-listing of European and Asian firms in the United States as negative responsible ownership shock. A staggered difference-in-differences estimation shows that cross-listing firms have lower responsible ownership and decrease green capital expenditures post cross-listing. Lower responsible ownership is also associated with lower green governance. Together, my findings suggest that responsible investors drive green capital expenditures by influencing corporate decision-making.
with P. Bolton and M. Kacperczyk
Abstract:
We split green innovation into pure green and fuel efficiency patent filings and study its effects on carbon emissions in a large sample of global firms. Despite a steady rise in green R&D, we find that green innovation does not predict future reductions in emissions of innovating firms. Fuel efficiency innovation improves emission intensity but is also associated with higher future sales and investments, resulting in higher future emissions. At the industry level, countervailing effects in terms of emission intensity improvements and changing market shares of innovators on net result in green (fuel efficiency) innovation predicting higher (lower) future emissions.
Supplementary material: Patent Classification Description; Patent Classification List
with C. Custodio and D. Cvijanovic
Abstract:
We study the impact of opioid abuse on real estate prices. We document that opioid death rates and excess prescription rates are negatively associated with house prices. Exploiting the staggered passage of opioid-limiting legislation, we find that a decrease in opioid abuse results in higher county-level house prices. This effect is due to fewer mortgage delinquencies, lower vacancy rates, more home improvement loans, and increased population inflow. Our findings are consistent with improved real estate conditions and a rise in local demand. These results highlight the importance of public health policy in mitigating the economic costs of the opioid epidemic.
Media: IBKnowledge
with D. Cvijanovic and A. Wu
Abstract:
We investigate the relationship between childhood mental health conditions and financial outcomes later in life. We find that individuals with childhood mental health conditions are significantly less likely to hold any assets, accumulate fewer total assets both unconditionally and conditionally on asset ownership, and are less likely to be homeowners over the life cycle. They also tend to accumulate more debt, and in particular more non-mortgage debt. These results are largely driven by white and male demographic groups. Financial literacy mitigates most of these effects. Childhood mental health is also linked to a lower likelihood of overconfidence, shorter life span expectancy and financial planning horizons, more pessimistic economic outlook, and reduced cognitive abilities, all of which may jointly explain the observed differences in financial outcomes.
2024: AFA, Adam Smith Sustainability Conference, GRASFI, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Symposium NOVA
2023: UBC Winter Finance Conference, SSE Harnessing Finance for Climate*, Carey Finance Conference PhD Session, Hoyt Institute*
2022: CEPR Advanced Forum for Financial Economics (CAFFE)*, UBC Sauder Business School*, University of Southern California*, Bocconi University*, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics*, ECB Conference on Money Markets*
2021: AREUEA 2021 National Conference, MIT CRE Seminar Series*, Baruch College*, Ted Rodgers School of Business Management - Ryerson*
2020: UZH Young Researcher Workshop on Climate Finance, University of Reading*
2019: GRASFI PhD Workshop; University of Siegen Conference on Risk Governance and Sustainability
*: conference presentation by co-author