Financial institutions

Edward P. Herbst and Benjamin K. JohannsenThis comment discusses Kolesár and Plagborg-Møller's (2025) finding that the standard linear local projection (LP) estimator recovers the average marginal effect (AME) even in nonlinear settings. We apply and discuss a subset their results using a simple nonlinear time series model, emphasizing the role of the weighting function and the impact of nonlinearities on small-sample properties.

This article examines the macroeconomic implications of critical dependencies in the euro area, the United States and China. Using a data-driven approach, it identifies products for which countries rely heavily on a small number of foreign suppliers for their imports in strategic sectors, such as health, energy and digital technologies.

Using a novel worldwide dataset of 5,264 syndicated loans issued to 329 firms from 2006 to 2021, we study how climate-related litigation risk affects firm’s cost of borrowing. We find robust empirical evidence that firms targeted by climate lawsuits pay significantly higher spreads on their bank loans. These effects are more pronounced for firms with weaker environmental performance and higher ESG controversies. The results suggest that lender’s view climate litigation as a material risk factor, which is increasingly priced into debt contracts.

Unwarranted heterogeneity in O-SII buffer levels across the European banking union may have adverse consequences for financial stability and the level playing field in the banking market. Analysis of national buffer-setting yields evidence of heterogeneity which does not result from differences in the size, concentration and funding structure of the domestic banking systems. From a banking union perspective, buffer-setting by national authorities results in heterogeneity at both the upper and the lower end of the distribution of a bank’s systemic relevance.