Department of Banking and Financial Management  University of Piraeus

Academic Seminar Series

Academic Seminar Series

Thursday, March 14^th, 2024 / Time: 16:15 – 17:30, Online

From Bits to Bonds: The Economic Ripple of Local Cyberattacks on Municipalities

Christodoulos Louca  

Cyprus University of Technology

Abstract

We investigate the economic repercussions of cyberattacks at the local government level. Employing a difference-in-differences approach to identify causal effects, we find significant increases in bond yields and reductions in bond issuance for municipalities situated in counties most exposed to cyberattacks targeting local entities, and their pertinent news. Heterogeneous effects related to investor clientele suggest a capital supply channel. Municipalities respond to financing shortages by drawing their cash holdings and by reducing their more elastic investments. Overall, awareness and prevalence of cybersecurity risk hinder local government entities’ access to capital by limiting their ability to provide public services and infrastructure.

Christodoulos Louca is Associate Professor in Finance at the Cyprus University of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Cyprus. He has previously held a post at Durham University. Christodoulos research and teaching activities include Corporate Finance, Behavioral Finance, Corporate Governance and Capital Markets. He has published widely in these areas in leading academic journals including the Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Organization Studies.

This seminar will be online on Teams. Click here to attend