Dear all,

our next seminar speaker at CEU is Luc Laeven (ECB and Tilburg U), who will present “Carbon Taxes and the Geography of Fossil Lending” (with Alexander Popov) – you’re all cordially invited to his in-person seminar.

Time and venue: May 24, Wednesday, 11.15am – 12.30pm, in C322, at CEU (51 Quellenstrasse, 1100 Vienna).

Abstract: Using data on syndicated loans, we find that the introduction of a carbon tax is associated with a decline (increase) in bank lending to coal, oil, and gas companies in domestic (foreign) markets. This manifestation of tax arbitrage is particularly pronounced for banks with large fossil-lending exposures, suggesting a role for bank specialization. Lending to private companies in foreign markets increases relatively more, implying bank incentives to avoid public scrutiny. We also find that banks reallocate a relatively larger share of their fossil loan portfolio to countries with less strict environmental regulation and bank supervision. 

Link to paper: https://cepr.org/publications/dp16745.

Speaker’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/laevenl/home.

For any question, please contact the CEU seminar organizer, Timea L. Molnar, at molnartl@ceu.edu.