Category: Discussion Paper

Sinking Land, Sinking Prices? Land Subsidence, Flood Risk, and Property Prices Authors: Lukas Hofmann, Martijn I. Dröes, Marc K. Francke Abstract: This paper examines the effect of land subsidence – the gradual sinking of the Earth’s surface – on property values. Subsidence can negatively affect real estate by damaging building foundations and increasing vulnerability to…

Authors: Rob Bauer, Katrin Gödker, Paul Smeets and Florian Zimmermann Abstract: We investigate financial experts’ beliefs about climate risk pricing and analyze how those beliefs influence stock return expectations. In a comprehensive survey, we elicit experts’ beliefs using both structured and open-ended questions. We establish that most experts share the view that climate risks are…

Authors: Daniel Engler, Gunnar Gutsche and Paul Smeets Abstract: We study why investors are willing to pay higher fees for sustainable investments using large-scale online experiments with individual investors across five European countries. We focus on two potential explanations – investors’ social preferences and limited financial literacy. We find that, across all countries, social preferences…

Authors: Aleksandar Andonov, Andy Li and Paul Smeets Abstract: Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) manage assets totaling $23 trillion, yet little research has been conducted on their investment activities and impact. We document that DFIs have increasingly invested in venture capital (VC) over the past three decades, participating as limited partners in one out of every…

Authors: Inka Eberhardt Hiabu, Paul Smeets, Martijn J. van den Assem and Dennie van Dolder Abstract: We examine the influence of impact and responsibility considerations on giving behavior. Our data are from a television show where an audience of one hundred people divides ten thousand euros among three financially distressed candidates, and from independent raters…