From flood to fire: is physical climate risk taken into account in banks’ residential mortgage rates?

03/12/2025 European Central Bank Central banks

Physical climate risks can have a large regional impact, which can influence mortgage loans’ credit risk and should be priced by the lenders. Motivated by the relevance of climate change for financial intermediaries, our paper aims at analysing if physical climate risks are being reflected in residential real estate loan rates of banks. We show that on average banks seem to demand a physical climate risk premium from mortgage borrowers and the premium has increased over recent years. However, there is significant heterogeneity in bank practices.

Consumer attitudes towards a central bank digital currency

03/12/2025 European Central Bank Central banks

We field a series of experiments in a population-representative survey of European consumers to examine their attitudes towards the possible introduction of a digital euro. First, we show that a short video explaining the key features of the digital euro is effective in changing consumers’ beliefs about such a new form of payment and increases the likelihood of adoption by 12pp relative to a control group that is not shown the video.

From flood to fire: is physical climate risk taken into account in banks’ residential mortgage rates?

03/12/2025 European Central Bank Central banks

Physical climate risks can have a large regional impact, which can influence mortgage loans’ credit risk and should be priced by the lenders. Motivated by the relevance of climate change for financial intermediaries, our paper aims at analysing if physical climate risks are being reflected in residential real estate loan rates of banks. We show that on average banks seem to demand a physical climate risk premium from mortgage borrowers and the premium has increased over recent years. However, there is significant heterogeneity in bank practices.

Consumer attitudes towards a central bank digital currency

03/12/2025 European Central Bank Central banks

We field a series of experiments in a population-representative survey of European consumers to examine their attitudes towards the possible introduction of a digital euro. First, we show that a short video explaining the key features of the digital euro is effective in changing consumers’ beliefs about such a new form of payment and increases the likelihood of adoption by 12pp relative to a control group that is not shown the video.

Capital markets union: a deep dive - Five measures to foster a single market for capital

03/11/2025 European Central Bank Central banks

The European Union requires a single market for capital. Well-developed and integrated capital markets support economic growth and resilience across the region, offering benefits for businesses, households, and financial stability. This paper examines the importance of CMU in achieving five strategic objectives: supporting innovation and productivity, financing the twin transition, shoring up pension savings, strengthening alternatives to bank financing, and fostering convergence and inclusion.

FEDS Paper: Challenging Demographic Representativeness at State Borders: Implications for Policy Research

03/07/2025 Federal Reserve Central banks

Benjamin S. Kay and Albina KhatiwodaThis study examines the demographic characteristics of U.S. state border counties, comparing them with those of nonborder counties. The demographic representativeness of border counties is essential for the interpretation of the results in state border-county difference-in-difference analyses, used in state policy evaluations. Our findings reveal that border counties generally have higher proportions of White, older, and disabled populations.

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