Public institutions play an increasingly prominent role in shaping firms' financing conditions, disclosure environments, and investment decisions. This thesis examines three channels through which public and private spheres intersect in corporate finance: government expertise in venture capital, climate litigation as involuntary disclosure, and the greening of unconventional monetary policy.
The first chapter, "From D.C. to VC: Leveraging Government Expertise in Venture Capital", studies the growing presence of former U.S. government officials in venture capital. Exploiting the 2019 federal government shutdown as an exogenous shock to the supply of former officials, I find that startups backed by VC-appointed former officials secure significantly more federal awards, raise more follow-on capital, and are more likely to obtain subsequent private investment, pointing to both procedural expertise and relational access as contributing mechanisms.
The second chapter, "Involuntary Disclosures through Climate Litigations: Impact on Investors and Corporate Policies", examines climate litigation as a source of climate-related information for markets. Focusing on U.S. litigations filed between 2012 and 2019, I find that substantive filings generate negative abnormal returns, prompt institutional investors' reaction, and induce peer firms to expand voluntary climate risk disclosures. Among defendants, emission reductions occur only among firms experiencing negative market reactions, and primarily through asset transfers rather than abatement.
Finally, the third chapter, "The Effects of Greening Unconventional Monetary Policy", co-authored with Andrea Giulio Maino, studies whether the ECB's announced commitment to incorporating climate criteria into its corporate bond purchases affected green financing costs and issuance. Following the ECB Monetary Policy Strategy Review of July 8, 2021, ECB-eligible green bond yields declined by approximately 12 basis points and Eurozone green bond issuance increased, with stronger effects for ECB-eligible bonds. However, the cost-of-capital channel does not extend to firm-level decarbonization: we find no corresponding uptake in corporate net-zero commitments.
