Events at CERGE-EI
Monday, 9 November, 2026 | 14:15 | Room 402 | Applied Micro Research Seminar
Marlene Koffi (Economics at the University of Toronto) "Social Issues and Capital Allocation"
Economics at the University of Toronto, Canada
Join online
Meeting number: 2740 813 5892
Meeting password: 443614
Authors: Marlene Koffi and B. Ba
Abstract: Social movements may reshape markets by changing which problems investors expect firms to solve. We combine PitchBook financing records with text-based firm classifications, patent applications, and federal procurement data alongside local protest exposure from 2008 to 2024. After 2013, financing rose sharply for firms connected to identity issues and the criminal legal system, with larger gains among firms more closely aligned with social justice objectives. Investors locally exposed to protests also shifted toward connected firms. Among the firms we call identity firms, patenting increased, and federal procurement declined. The results show that periods of social mobilization can coincide with broad, persistent changes in which entrepreneurial activities receive private capital.
