“Noon Sunshine-Young Scholars Seminar” is a regular academic exchange platform held by School of Finance. It aims to offer valuable occasions of communications among scholars in our college, between teachers and students, the domestic and the oversea. In this semester, we keep our original intention, set off for a new voyage. We will devote ourselves to fostering the academic atmosphere in the college, and promoting the academic level for both teachers and students.

The ninth session of “Noon Sunshine-Young Scholars Seminar” for the Spring Semester in 2024 is arranged as follows:

Lecture topic：The Emerging Greenium

Keynote Speaker: Wang Baolian

Commentator: Tian Da

Date：Thursday, May 16th, 2024

Time：12:00-13:00

Lecture Venue：Room 116, School of Finance

Abstract

We examine whether and to what extent investors are willing to forego financial returns in exchange for non-pecuniary benefits in the United States municipal bond market. We match municipal green bonds to otherwise almost identical non-green bonds from 2013 to 2022. Comparing 1,027 pairs of exact matches, we find green bonds are issued at a lower yield after 2018, with the average greenium being 2.3 basis points. The underwriter discount difference between green bonds and their matches was positive before 2018 and has become negative in recent years. The increase in greenium and the decline in underwriter discount coincide with the increase in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment. The size of greenium is positively correlated with state-level green preferences and bond-level greenness. The term structure of greenium is downward sloped.