A Market-based Measure of Climate Risk for Cities Abstract We use information from financial markets to construct a comprehensive measure of cities’ economic exposure to climate-related risks. Studying a large sample of municipal bonds issued by U.S. cities, we document substantial variation in how municipal bond prices respond to innovations Read more…

Managerial Springboards: Employee Spillovers of Startup Accelerators Abstract: We study whether accelerators shape employees’ careers. Drawing on employee-level resume data across the Americas and a Colombian natural experiment with wage records, we find that employees of accelerator-backed startups are more likely to become managers in other firms, earn higher wages, Read more…

Collusion through Common Leadership Abstract This paper studies whether common leadership, defined as two firms sharing executives or board directors, contributes to collusion. Using an explicit measure of labor market collusion from unsealed court evidence, we find that the probability of collusion between two firms increases by 12 percentage points Read more…

Investments that Make our Homes Greener: The Role of Regulation Abstract The operation of residential buildings is responsible for roughly 22% of the global energy consumption and 17% of the CO2 emissions. We study the investments triggered by a regulatory intervention requiring rented properties to satisfy minimum energy efficiency standards. Read more…

How Big is Small? The Economic Effects of Access to Small Business Government Support Abstract Industry size standards that determine eligibility for U.S. small business support have vastly increased over the past decade. We exploit quasi-random variation in the implementation of size standard increases to study the effects on small Read more…

Financially Sophisticated Firms Abstract Using comprehensive new data on firms, bond issuance, and portfolio holdings, we show that firms strategically choose their bond structures to simultaneously reduce their cost of capital and mitigate ”financial fragility”—their exposure to investor demand shocks. By tailoring bonds to specific investor preferences, firms shape their Read more…

The Politicization of Social Responsibility Abstract Institutional investors are less likely to support shareholder proposals related to environmental and social issues for firms headquartered in Republican-led states. The lower support concentrates in recent years, coinciding with politicians highlighting firms’ social responsibility efforts, and among companies that receive state-level subsidies and Read more…