WHAT DRIVES BELIEFS ABOUT CLIMATE RISKS? EVIDENCE FROM FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

Dear colleagues and students,

We are very excited to host Matilde Faralli at the Khas Finance Webinar series organized by the International Trade and Finance Department. Please find the details below.

Speaker: Matilde Faralli  

Institution: Imperial College London

Day and Time: 26 March 2024 (Tuesday), 17.00 (GMT+3)    

Title: What Drives Beliefs about Climate Risks? Evidence from Financial Analysts

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88107665573

Abstract: This paper studies how exposure to extreme weather events affects financial forecasts. Using a unique dataset that matches natural disasters with the location of equity analysts across 24 US states over 2000-2020, I apply a staggered differences-in-differences methodology to examine shifts in the earnings forecasts of analysts exposed to weather shocks. I find that analysts become more accurate after experiencing an extreme weather event. I also document that the post-exposure effect on forecasting accuracy is more pronounced for experienced analysts and for firms with high physical climate risk which are exposed to events similar to those experienced by the analysts.

Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4700558

About the speaker: Matilde Faralli is a PhD candidate at Imperial College London. Her research mainly focuses on climate finance, household finance and sovereign debt. Matilde graduated summa cum laude from the University of Bologna with a B.A. in Business and Economics and a M.A. in Economics. In the second year of her master, she spent one semester at the University of California, Berkeley. After that, she was an intern in the Monetary Policy Research Department of the European Central Bank. In Summer 2021, Matilde was a research intern at the Bank of Italy after being shortlisted as “particularly deserving” by the Bank of Italy’s Mortara Scholarship. From September 2021, Matilde is part of the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership. In Spring 2023, she was a visiting PhD student at Berkeley Haas sponsored by Ulrike Malmendier.