We use an asset-weighted composite corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund score to study the effects of CSR on fund performance and flows. Compared to low-CSR funds, high-CSR funds display poorer performance, stronger performance persistence, a weaker performance-flow relationship, and...

An emerging literature has shown that investors are sensitive to mutual fund names. Using a sample of US equity funds over the period 1993-2017, we provide evidence that funds with a name closer to the family's name attract more flows and display a stronger performance-flow relationship. We also...

Using a new measure of shareholder inattention based on exogenous industry shocks to institutional investor portfolios, we document a positive and significant relation between firms with distracted institutional shareholders and the cost of debt financing. This effect is stronger for firms with...

Using a sample of 2516 U.S. mutual funds over the period 2010-2017, we examine the effects of socially responsible investing (SRI) on mutual fund performance. We use two proxies of deviation from SRI: social active share (SAS) and social tracking error (STE) which, respectively, capture the...

We examine a sample of U.S. mutual funds and find that, between 2003 and 2018, 28 funds have changed their name to a sustainability-related appellation. Following the name change, we observe three main outcomes: (i) an increase in fund flows, (ii) a significant rise in portfolio turnover, and...

Interest in socially responsible investing (SRI) has skyrocketed within the mutual fund industry. Central to this development is whether SRI funds underperform conventional funds. Using a novel approach, we decompose mutual fund portfolios into socially responsible (green) and non-socially...

We study how the heterogeneity between the CEO and independent board directors as a group stemming from cultural diversity affects debt pricing in bad times. Using a novel approach to identify directors’ cultural backgrounds based on their ancestral origins, we find that greater...

For a large sample of 48 countries, we find robust evidence that strong creditor rights are associated with low long-term leverage across countries. We further find that strong creditor protection lowers long-term debt issuance, the extent to which investments are financed with long-term debt,...

We investigate the influence of national culture on corporate debt maturity choice. Based on the framework of Williamson, we argue that culture located in social embeddedness level can shape contracting environments by serving as an informal constraint that affects human actors’ incentives and...

This study investigates whether financial analysts play a governance role in international debt markets by examining the link between analyst forecast characteristics and the cost of debt financing. Using a sample of 2,686 bond issues from 35 non-U.S. countries, we find statistically and...