We estimate the effects of peer benchmarking by institutional investors on asset prices. To identify trades purely due to peer benchmarking as separate from those based on fundamentals or private information, we exploit a natural experiment involving a change in a government-imposed...

This paper studies credit allocation when government loan programs are distributed by private banks. The study focuses on Brazil, where private lenders can operate in two credit markets: competitive loans with own funding and earmarked loans that rely on government funds to finance firms at...

This paper analyzes how capital requirements from environmental risk exposure affect bank lending to the corporate sector, and how these effects transmit to real economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions. It exploits the introduction of a policy in Brazil that required banks to incorporate...

What is the response of bank foreign subsidiaries to climate policy in their host countries This paper finds that global banks with high environmental performance increase their presence in countries after local authorities strengthen their climate-related actions. Through their foreign...

In Montenegro & Pedraza (2009) we argued that the staggering spread of mobile phones was critical in the reduction of kidnapping rates in Colombia between 2000 and 2008. Handsets provided citizens a fast and cheap tool to communicate with authorities. In this document, using new available data...