Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP18619
Authors: H. Özlem Dursunde Neef; Steven Ongena
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.
Keywords: climate change; global warming; bank deposits; fossil fuel financing
JEL Codes: G21; G28; Q54
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| abnormal temperatures (I19) | climate change beliefs (Q54) |
| climate change beliefs (Q54) | bank deposits (G21) |
| abnormal temperatures (I19) | bank deposits (G21) |