Do Investors Value Corporate Workplace Equality?

Using a unique workplace equality measure constructed from big data on online job postings, I show that investors tilt their holdings toward firms with better workplace equality profiles after the unexpected 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. Empirical evidence suggests that the effects are driven by both changes in investors' beliefs about risks associated with workplace equality and shifts in investors' non-monetary preferences for workplace equality. I document that high-equality firms outperform their peers when public attention to social equality is high. I show that the changes in investor behavior persist over time, suggesting that investors do not reverse their beliefs and/or preferences for workplace equality despite the gradual fading of the 2020 BLM movement. Finally, I show that the changes in investor behavior have real impacts on the new director appointments of racial minorities