Understanding drought shocks: Bank financial stability and loan performance

Unlike other climate shocks, droughts are slow and silent, and their impacts are not immediate. We define a two-year drought shock at the bank level and quantify the impact of droughts on bank stability and performance. Applying a difference-in-differences methodology, we find drought shocks to significantly worsen Z -Score, return on assets, and stock volatility. Non-performing loans of affected banks are significantly higher compared to unaffected banks. The economic impacts are comparable to those associated with a 1 % decline in unemployment rate. We also document that affected banks close branches in drought-hit regions but do not increase their capital ratios.