1. About the IWH
  2. Team
  3. Economists

Professor Dr Lena Tonzer

Professor Dr Lena Tonzer
Current Position

since 9/21

Research Fellow Department of Financial Markets

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 5/14

Head of the Research Group Regulation of International Financial Markets and International Banking and Head of the International Banking Library

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 4/25

Professor

Leipzig University

download CV
Research Interests
  • banking and sovereign debt crises
  • integration of financial markets
  • banking regulation
  • International Banking Library

Lena Tonzer is Professor of Money, Credit & Banking at the Faculty of Economics and Management Science at Leipzig University since April 2025 and a member of the Department of Financial Markets at IWH since May 2014. In 2019 she joined the SUERF Research Affiliate programme. Her research focuses on banking and sovereign debt crises, integration of financial markets, and banking regulation.

Lena Tonzer received her bachelor's and master's degree from University of Tübingen, and her PhD from European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. From 2017 to 2021 she taught at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, from 2021 to 2023 at VU Amsterdam, and from 2023 to 2025 at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. She was head of the ESF project The Political Economy of the European Banking Union from 2017 to 2022.

Your contact

Professor Dr Lena Tonzer
Professor Dr Lena Tonzer
- Department Financial Markets
Send Message +49 345 7753-835 Personal page

Publications

Citations
749

cover_economics-letters.gif

Inflation Concerns and Financial Stress

Sabrina Jeworrek Lena Tonzer

in: Economics Letters, forthcoming

read publication
cover_journal-of-financial-stability.gif

How Do EU Banks’ Funding Costs Respond to the CRD IV? An Assessment Based on the Banking Union Directives Database

Thomas Krause Eleonora Sfrappini Lena Tonzer Cristina Zgherea

in: Journal of Financial Stability, forthcoming

Abstract

The establishment of the European Banking Union constitutes a major change in the regulatory framework of the banking system. Main parts are implemented via directives that show staggered transposition timing across EU member states. Based on the newly compiled Banking Union Directives Database, we assess how banks’ funding costs responded to the Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV). Our findings show an upward trend in funding costs which is driven by an increase in cost of equity and partially offset by a decline in cost of debt. The diverging trends are most present in countries with an ex-ante lower regulatory capital stringency, which is in line with banks’ short-run adjustment needs but longer-run benefits from increased financial stability.

read publication
cover_journal-of-corporate-finance.jpg

Cultural Norms and Corporate Fraud: Evidence from the Volkswagen Scandal

Iftekhar Hasan Felix Noth Lena Tonzer

in: Journal of Corporate Finance, October 2023

Abstract

We examine a corporate governance role of local culture via its impact on consumer behavior following corporate scandals. Our proxy for culture is the presence of local Protestantism. Exploiting the unexpected nature of the Volkswagen (VW) diesel scandal in September 2015, we show that new registrations of VW cars decline significantly in German counties with a Protestant majority following the VW scandal. Further survey evidence shows that, compared to Catholics, Protestants respond significantly more negatively to fraud but not to environmental issues. Our findings suggest that the enforcement culture in Protestantism facilitates penalizing corporate fraud.

read publication
Browse all refereed publications

Working Papers

Screenshot_2025-03-05_at_15-06-05_Banks__foreign_homes_-_2024-12-17-dkp-46-data.pdf.png

Banks’ foreign homes

Kirsten Schmidt Lena Tonzer

in: Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Papers, No. 46, 2024

Abstract

<p>Our results reveal that higher lending spreads between foreign and home markets redirect real estate backed lending towards foreign markets offering a higher interest rate, which provides evidence for "search for yield" behavior. This re-allocation is found especially for banks with more expertise on the foreign market due to a higher local activity and holds for commercial and residential real estate backed loans. Furthermore, "search for yield" behavior and a resulting increase in foreign real estate backed lending is found when macroprudential regulation is missing or misaligned between a bank’s country of residence and the destination country. When turning to the question of whether the detected search for yield behavior results in more risk, we find that especially better capitalized banks report higher forbearance ratios as they might face less stigma effects compared to low capitalized banks.</p>

read publication
cover_DP_2024-10.jpg

Inflation Concerns and Green Product Consumption: Evidence from a Nationwide Survey and a Framed Field Experiment

Sabrina Jeworrek Lena Tonzer

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 10, 2024

Abstract

Promoting green product consumption is one important element in building a sustainable society. Yet green products are usually more costly. In times of high inflation, not only budget constraints but also the fear that prices will continue to rise might dampen green product consumption and, hence, limit the effectiveness of exerted efforts to promote sustainable behaviors. To test this suggestion, we conducted a Germany-wide survey with almost 1,200 respondents, followed by a framed field experiment (N=500) to confirm causality. In the survey, respondents’ stated “green” purchasing behavior is, as to be expected, positively correlated with concerns about climate change. It is also negatively correlated with concerns about future inflation and energy costs, but after controlling for observable characteristics such as income and educational level only the correlation with concerns about future prices remains significant. This result is driven by individuals with below-median environmental attitude. In the framed field experiment, we use the priming method to manipulate the saliency of inflation concerns. Whereas sizably relaxing the budget constraint (i.e., by 50 percent) has no impact on the share of organic products in participants’ baskets, the priming significantly decreases the share of organic products for individuals with below-median environmental attitude, similar to the survey data.

read publication
cover_DP_2023-24.jpg

Distributional Income Effects of Banking Regulation in Europe

Lars Brausewetter Melina Ludolph Lena Tonzer

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 24, 2023

Abstract

We study the impact of stricter and more harmonized banking regulation along the income distribution using household survey data for 25 EU countries. Exploiting country-level heterogeneity in the implementation of European Banking Union directives allows us to control for confounders and identify effects. Our results show that these regulatory reforms aimed at increasing financial system resilience affected households heterogeneously. More stringent regulation reduces income growth for low-income households due to employment exits. Yet it tends to increase growth rates at the top of the distribution both for employee and self-employed income.

read publication
Browse all working papers

Topics

Regulation Monetary Policy Financial Institutions Financial Markets The new Europe Risk Financial Stability Policy Evaluation International Finance
Mitglied der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft LogoTotal-Equality-LogoSupported by the BMWK