We exploit unexpected corporate data breaches to study how firms respond to negative reputation events. Data breaches negatively affect firm profitability, value, and reputation for years following the event, but are not triggered by high or low reputations. In response, firms increase their...

Whenever there is a crisis in the corporate world or the economy more generally, the same questions continue to surface: What is the purpose of a corporation? Is the purpose of a corporation simply to make money? Or do they have a broader role in society? Do corporations also have a social...

Firms' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity has become the subject of a large literature in recent years. This paper analyzes CSR activity using quasi-experimental variation created by Section 135 of India's Companies Act of 2013, which requires (on a “comply-or-explain” basis)...

This paper, Part One of a 2015-2016 Paper Series, examines the need for ESG data transparency, consistency, and reliability. It identifies (i) the three main drivers creating the rising global capital market systemic risk caused by unrecognized, under-reported, and under-valued ESG risks; (ii)...

To resolve global political and scholarly concerns over conflict minerals (“CM”) produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring regions, two kinds of CM-related disclosure rules (or “CM rules”) come into play in regulating their use: government-mandated laws such as...

The large American corporation faces ever-rising pressure to pursue a purpose beyond shareholder profit. This rising pressure interacts with changes in industrial organization in a way that has not been comprehensively analyzed and is generally ignored. It’s not just purpose pressure that is...

This study collates potential economic effects of mandated disclosure and reporting standards for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability topics. We first outline key features of CSR reporting. Next, we draw on relevant academic literatures in accounting, finance, economics, and...

In response to a Private Member’s Resolution calling upon the Ontario Securities Commission to conduct a consultation on corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance reporting standards and to adopt an enhanced standardized reporting framework, the Hennick Centre...

We investigate real effects of a widespread corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting mandate. In 2014, the European Union (EU) passed Directive 2014/95 (hereafter, “CSR Directive”), mandating large listed EU firms to prepare annual nonfinancial reports beginning from fiscal year 2017...

We examine the effects of mandatory ESG reporting on firms’ corporate performance. Using variation from Sweden’s size-based ESG reporting regulation, which requires medium private firms to start reporting ESG information from 2017 onward, we document that mandatory ESG reporting improves...