可持续发展视角下数字化转型对企业债务融资成本的影响

数字经济时代,数字化转型成为企业提高市场竞争力、实现高质量发展的必由之路。立足于企业管理行为长期可持续发展视角,以2013—2022年沪深A股制造业上市公司为研究样本,实证探讨数字化转型对债务融资成本的影响。研究发现,数字化转型能够通过提高企业的可持续发展能力有效降低债务融资成本。异质性分析表明,对于中小型企业、融资约束较高的企业和媒体关注度高的企业,数字化转型更能显著发挥降低融资成本的作用。     

The Consolidation of the ESG Rating Industry as an Enactment of Institutional Retrogression

The socially responsible investing (SRI) movement has been aiming to create lasting institutional change by infusing the investment sector with new norms and values. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating agencies have emerged in response to the needs of SRI actors for reliable data on the social performance of firms. Since 2005, the ESG rating industry has witnessed a number of national and cross‐border consolidations. Based on a set of 37 interviews and secondary data, the paper explores the driving forces behind this consolidation as well as its impact. Our focus is on four ESG rating agencies, based in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland. We conclude that in effect consolidation has at least partially resulted in institutional retrogression, whereby the traditional norms and values have reaffirmed their primacy, thereby somewhat negating the institutional change sought by the SRI movement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Making the invisible,visible: Overcoming barriers to ESG performance with an ESG mindset

Improving corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance starts with recognizing that not every dollar of earnings is created equally, as some profit may be earned at the cost of damaging the environment or of harming stakeholder relationships. These costs are often invisible to corporate employees, as they are not recorded. To earn corporate profits that are environmentally and socially responsible, boards and CEOs must overcome two barriers: (1) the ESG issue-assessment barrier, which reflects an organization’s inability to fairly assess, prioritize, scope, and plan ESG initiatives that address the invisible environmental and social damage corporations cause, and (2) the shareholder-value barrier, which recognizes that corporate employees may resist implementing ESG initiatives owing to their entrenched belief that corporations must maximize shareholder returns. To overcome these two barriers, we propose an ESG mindset model that highlights the pitfalls relating to ESG issue assessment and to the common belief in maximizing shareholder value and then suggests tactics to overcome them. The benefits to corporations that successfully overcome the barriers and improve their corporate ESG performance are threefold: They (1) will be perceived as positively contributing to environmental and societal issues, and thereby (2) avoid accusations of greenwashing and (3) improve their standing with stakeholders.     

Does social capital foster sustainable investment?

How do country-level societal norms affect financial investments? We provide evidence that mutual funds managed in high social capital countries are inclined to consider environmental, social and governance filters in their portfolios, especially when acquiring new stocks and investing abroad. We argue that social capital nurtures the investment preferences of retail investors, whose demand incentivizes fund managers to respond in kind. Such impact is more pronounced in individualistic and high–power distance societies, suggesting that the social cohesion benefit of social capital complements altruistic inclinations in the former and provides mechanisms to punish unsustainable investment behaviour in the latter.     

When does the Japan Empowering Women Index outperform its parent and the ESG Select Leaders Indexes?

This paper examines and compares the performance of the Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN), Japan ESG Select Leaders Index (SLI), and their parent, the Japanese Investable Market Index (IMI) using data from April 2013 to October 2020. Without regime switching, our benchmark analysis suggests that none of the indexes outperforms the market on average. We also investigate the possible regime-dependent performance of each index to identify the periods when WIN outperforms the market, the IMI, and the SLI, if ever. Our results indicate regime-dependent performance of the WIN and IMI and regime-independent performance of the SLI. For example, when the market performance of the previous month is relatively poor, the WIN tends to outperform the market, while the IMI tends to underperform. Our results also show that, when the market volatility of the previous month is relatively small, the WIN outperforms the market. However, the WIN and IMI tend to underperform the market under the high market volatility regime.     

ESG controversies and bank risk taking

This study investigates how environmental, social, and governance controversies affect bank risk taking. By estimating a dynamic panel data model from 2011 to 2020, we find evidence that banks with fewer ESG controversies take less risk. Banks with a lower number of ESG controversies show their compliance with the implementation of ESG strategies to reduce risk, as evidenced by lower risk-weighted assets and higher Z-scores. The present study supports the recent guidelines on climate-related and environmental risks published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European Central Bank. Therefore, the main results strengthen the need for the integration not only of social and governance risks but also of climate-related and environmental risks in banks' risk management framework.     

Spillover analysis across FinTech,ESG, and renewable energy indices before and during the Russia–Ukraine war: International evidence

This study is epicentral to analyze the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on the financial markets, specifically focusing on the connectedness and spillover dynamics of FinTech, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), renewable energy, gold, and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) indices in developed and emerging countries. Data are collected from Thomson Reuters, ranging from May 8, 2020, to May 11, 2022, and a time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) t-Copula (DCC-GARCH t-Copula) are used to analyze the data. The results show that FinTech, ESG, and MSCI are net transmitters in developed countries, whereas gold and renewable energy are net receivers pre- and during war periods. ESG and MSCI are net transmitters in emerging countries, while FinTech, renewable energy, and gold become net receivers in both periods. The hedging ratio sheds light on the costs and weights of efficient pair investments that might change in the context of each region and under the combined scenario. The study has important implications for merchant bankers, policymakers, investors, hedgers, and risk managers.     

Interactive effects of brand reputation and ESG on green bond issues: A sustainable development perspective

This paper shows that brand reputation alone may not be sufficient to help firms successfully issue green bonds and that they may need superior corporate social responsibility performance in the form of high ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) scores to unlock the full potential of their brand reputation. Using a sample of 338 international green bond issues across 108 unique firms, we found significant positive effects of ESG disclosure score and its interaction brand reputation on the issuance of green bonds while controlling for other variables, such as fixed effects of industry, region, and time. We also show that it is the S (Social) component of ESG and the interactions of its E (Environmental) and G (Governance) components with brand reputation which drive successful green bond issuance. Besides extending the current research on the impact of brand reputation and ESG on green bonds, these results also have important managerial implications for analysts, fund managers, and firms planning to raise green capital.     

The Value of Mandatory Certification: A Real Effects Perspective

We study the real effects of certification to demonstrate the value of mandatory certification over and above mandatory disclosure in enhancing investment efficiency. In our model, a firm's manager selects a project to maximize the firm's short-term stock price, which is a function of her certification and disclosure decisions about the outcome of the project. Although the manager might be either forthcoming or strategic with regard to the disclosure of her private information, she can strategically choose whether to incur a cost or not to certify her disclosure, unless mandated. The manager always selects the first-best project when both certification and disclosure are mandatory. However, when certification is voluntary, project selection is inefficient. In addition, mandating disclosure without mandating certification can lead to lower investment efficiency than mandating neither. In justifying why mandatory certification is beneficial for public firms, our results offer a note of caution regarding the contemplated regulatory moves for increased disclosures by public firms without corresponding certification requirements, for example, the recent SEC proposal requiring extensive climate-related disclosure.     

The impact of the ESG disclosure on sell-side analysts’ target prices: The new era post Paris agreements

We examine whether the ESG disclosure is a value driver for sell-side analysts, focusing on the largest 3000 US listed firms between 2012 and 2020. ESG represents Environmental factors, long-term Social factors, and Governance issues. These factors affect a community’s long-term sustainability and serve to guide the broader financial markets, increasingly oriented towards sustainable investing. Specifically, we question whether firms exhibiting higher disclosure scores show higher target prices. Moreover, we investigate the impact of the 2015 Paris agreements addressing climate change on stock’s evaluations. We find that: (1) analysts recognize a premium for firms more engaged in ESG transparency (2) before the Paris agreements this premium is mainly driven by Governance disclosure; (3) after the event this premium is also driven by Environmental disclosure. To the extent that we control for different model specifications, our findings suggest that ESG disclosure is a strategic tool for firms to create value.