Title: Climate change and bank deposits

Keywords: Climate change, Global warming, Bank deposits

Abstract:

Abnormally warm temperatures are associated with an increase in people’s beliefs about climate change. Using branch-level deposit data from the United States, we find that depositors move their money away from fossil-fuel-financing banks when experiencing warmer-than-usual temperatures. This effect is more pronounced in counties with more climate change deniers, measured by the percentage of Republican voters in each county. Our results shed light on people’s responses to the impacts of global warming by studying the relationship between households’ beliefs about climate change and their non-financial preferences in their choice of bank for deposits.

Bio:

Steven Ongena is a professor of banking in the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich, a senior chair at the Swiss Finance Institute, a research professor at KU Leuven, a research professor at the NTNU Business School, and a research fellow in financial economics of CEPR. He is also a research professor at the Deutsche Bundesbank and a regular research visitor at the European Central Bank. He is publishing in economics, finance, law and management journals. In 2017 he received an ERC Advanced Grant and in 2012 the NYU-Fordham-RPI Rising Star in Finance Award.

https://sites.google.com/site/stevenongena/