We introduce a method that identifies firm-level climate change exposures from conversation in earnings conference calls of more than 10,000 firms from 34 countries between 2002 and 2019. The method captures exposures related to opportunity,...Read more
Most investors have a single goal: to earn the highest financial return. These socially-neutral investors maximize their risk-adjusted returns and would not accept a lower financial return from an investment that also produced social benefits. An...Read more
Corporate customers are an important stakeholder in global supply chains. We employ several unique international databases to test whether socially responsible corporate customers can infuse similar socially responsible business behavior in...Read more
Corporations play a crucial role in achieving a sustainable world. In achieving corporate sustainability, the current regulatory frameworks generally emphasize the role of the corporate board, but today’s media suggest that institutional...Read more
Examining a shock to the salience of the sustainability of the US mutual fund market, we present causal evidence that investors marketwide value sustainability. Being categorized as low sustainability resulted in net outflows of more than $12...Read more
We propose a novel way of measuring the portfolio-level environmental and social characteristics of 13F institutional investors (the “sustainability footprint”). We show that the environmental (social) footprint of institutional investors has...Read more
A significant development in the global economy over the last two decades has been the emergence of businesses that organize and define themselves as “platforms.” By platform, we refer to any organization that uses digital or other emerging...Read more
According to our survey about climate risk perceptions, institutional investors believe climate risks have financial implications for their portfolio firms and that these risks, particularly regulatory risks, already have begun to materialize....Read more
This study provides an economic analysis of the determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting. To frame our analysis, we consider a widespread mandatory adoption of CSR reporting standards in...Read more
This paper examines the effect of board gender diversity on renewable energy consumption. Using a panel of 11,677 firm-year observations from the USA for 2008–2016, we find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and renewable...Read more
Can market discipline affect corporate environmental and social (E&S) policies? Using novel international data on negative news coverage of corporate E&S risks, we show that E&S-conscious investors divest firms with heightened E&S...Read more
We use a unique dataset to examine the link between ESG disclosure and quality through a cross-country comparison of disclosure requirements and stewardship codes. We find a strong relationship between the extent of ESG disclosure and the quality...Read more