IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/safewp/325484.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Disasters and lending signals: From borrower information to community characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Beyene, Winta

Abstract

I study the informational value of community resilience in credit markets during natural disasters. Exploiting a severe flood in Germany in 2013, I combine loan-level data on car loans with a composite measure of community resilience based on structural local characteristics linked to disaster recovery capacity. After the flood, only low-income borrowers faced credit tightening, but in high-resilience areas they experienced smaller rate hikes and maintained access to credit. Resilience also predicts repayment after disasters, yet banks ignore it in normal times. This state-contingent reliance shows that community resilience enters credit pricing only in crises, when its information content beyond standard borrower characteristics is valuable enough to justify adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Beyene, Winta, 2025. "Disasters and lending signals: From borrower information to community characteristics," SAFE Working Paper Series 455, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:safewp:325484
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5435455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/325484/1/1935279467.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2139/ssrn.5435455?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cortés, Kristle Romero & Strahan, Philip E., 2017. "Tracing out capital flows: How financially integrated banks respond to natural disasters," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 182-199.
    2. Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Stock markets, banks, and growth: Panel evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 423-442, March.
    3. Duc Duy Nguyen & Steven Ongena & Shusen Qi & Vathunyoo Sila, 2022. "Climate Change Risk and the Cost of Mortgage Credit [Does climate change affect real estate prices? Only if you believe in it]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1509-1549.
    4. Levine, Ross & Zervos, Sara, 1998. "Stock Markets, Banks, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 537-558, June.
    5. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    6. Kristian S. Blickle & Sarah Ngo Hamerling & Donald P. Morgan, 2021. "How Bad Are Weather Disasters for Banks?," Staff Reports 990, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    7. Jonathan A. Parker & Nicholas S. Souleles & David S. Johnson & Robert McClelland, 2013. "Consumer Spending and the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2530-2553, October.
    8. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    9. James R. Brown & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 2009. "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity, and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 151-185, February.
    10. Bellows, John & Miguel, Edward, 2009. "War and local collective action in Sierra Leone," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1144-1157, December.
    11. Duqi, Andi & McGowan, Danny & Onali, Enrico & Torluccio, Giuseppe, 2021. "Natural disasters and economic growth: The role of banking market structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Bo Becker & Marieke Bos & Kasper Roszbach, 2020. "Bad Times, Good Credit," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(S1), pages 107-142, October.
    13. Billings, Stephen B. & Gallagher, Emily A. & Ricketts, Lowell, 2022. "Let the rich be flooded: The distribution of financial aid and distress after hurricane harvey," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 797-819.
    14. Berg, Gunhild & Schrader, Jan, 2012. "Access to credit, natural disasters, and relationship lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 549-568.
    15. Marco Di Maggio & Amir Kermani & Benjamin J. Keys & Tomasz Piskorski & Rodney Ramcharan & Amit Seru & Vincent Yao, 2017. "Interest Rate Pass-Through: Mortgage Rates, Household Consumption, and Voluntary Deleveraging," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(11), pages 3550-3588, November.
    16. Bartlett, Robert & Morse, Adair & Stanton, Richard & Wallace, Nancy, 2022. "Consumer-lending discrimination in the FinTech Era," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 30-56.
    17. Koetter, Michael & Noth, Felix & Rehbein, Oliver, 2020. "Borrowers under water! Rare disasters, regional banks, and recovery lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    18. Morse, Adair, 2011. "Payday lenders: Heroes or villains?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 28-44, October.
    19. Pablo Kurlat & Johannes Stroebel, 2015. "Testing for Information Asymmetries in Real Estate Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(8), pages 2429-2461.
    20. Dossche, Maarten & Forsells, Magnus & Rossi, Luca & Stoevsky, Grigor, 2018. "Private consumption and its drivers in the current economic expansion," Economic Bulletin Articles, European Central Bank, vol. 5.
    21. Xu, Minhong & Xu, Yilan, 2023. "Do non-damaging earthquakes shake mortgage lenders' risk perception?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    22. Barrios, John M. & Benmelech, Efraim & Hochberg, Yael V. & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2021. "Civic capital and social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic☆," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    23. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    24. Mark J. Garmaise & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2009. "Catastrophic Risk and Credit Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 657-707, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pauline Avril & Gregory Levieuge & Camelia Turcu, 2023. "Do bankers want their umbrellas back when it rains? Evidence from typhoons in China," Working Papers 2023.08, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Molyneux, Phil & Wilson, John O.S., 2020. "Banks and the real economy: An assessment of the research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Kakuho Furukawa & Hibiki Ichiue & Noriyuki Shiraki, 2020. "How Does Climate Change Interact with the Financial System? A Survey," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 20-E-8, Bank of Japan.
    4. Matteo Alessi & Ilaria Manti & Luca Santabarbara, 2024. "Natural Disasters, Local banking, and Recovery lending: evidence from an Italian earthquake," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 14(6), pages 1-2.
    5. Breckenfelder, Johannes & Maćkowiak, Bartosz & Marqués-Ibáñez, David & Olovsson, Conny & Popov, Alexander & Porcellacchia, Davide & Schepens, Glenn, 2023. "The climate and the economy," Working Paper Series 2793, European Central Bank.
    6. Shala, Iliriana & Schumacher, Benno, 2022. "The impact of natural disasters on banks' impairment flow: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers 36/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. Vinzenz Peters, 2025. "How Banks are Impacted by and Mediate the Economic Consequences of Natural Disasters and Climate Shocks: A Review," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 47-85, March.
    8. Christa Gibbs & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Donghoon Lee & Scott Nelson & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jialan Wang, 2025. "Consumer Credit Reporting Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 598-636, June.
    9. Choudhary, M. Ali & Jain, Anil, 2022. "Finance and inequality: The distributional impacts of bank credit rationing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Le, Anh-Tuan & Tran, Thao Phuong & Mishra, Anil V., 2023. "Climate risk and bank stability: International evidence," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 70.
    11. Duqi, Andi & McGowan, Danny & Onali, Enrico & Torluccio, Giuseppe, 2021. "Natural disasters and economic growth: The role of banking market structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. James R. Brown & Gustav Martinsson & Bruce C. Petersen, 2013. "Law, Stock Markets, and Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1517-1549, August.
    13. Bos, Jaap & Li, Runliang & Sanders, Mark, 2018. "Hazardous Lending: The Impact of Natural Disasters on Banks'Asset Portfolio," Research Memorandum 021, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    14. Ivan Faiella & Filippo Natoli, 2018. "Natural catastrophes and bank lending: the case of flood risk in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 457, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    15. Avril, Pauline & Levieuge, Grégory & Turcu, Camelia, 2025. "Natural disasters and financial stress: can macroprudential regulation tame green swans?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Noth, Felix & Schüwer, Ulrich, 2017. "Natural disasters and bank stability: Evidence from the U.S. financial system," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168263, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Noth, Felix & Schüwer, Ulrich, 2018. "Natural disasters and bank stability: Evidence from the U.S. financial system," SAFE Working Paper Series 167, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2018.
    18. Noth, Felix & Rehbein, Oliver, 2017. "Badly hurt? Natural disasters and direct firm effects," IWH Discussion Papers 25/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:safewp:325484. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csafede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.