Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) have become a popular alternative to traditional regulation. However, little is known about whether these programs are sending accurate signals about the environmental practices of their participants. As a means for understanding signaling accuracy, this...

Publishers produce books in hardcover and paperback versions with different prices and time of market introduction. Analysis of detailed book-level data reveals that (i) price-cost differentials cannot be explained by cost differences, making this an example of quality discrimination; (ii)...

Publishers produce books in hardcover and paperback versions with different prices and time of market introduction. Analysis of detailed book-level data reveals that (i) market introduction time has a strong effect on sales, suggesting that time is the crucial dimension of discrimination; (ii)...

This paper provides evidence of the growing similarity in capacity of for-profit and nonprofit hospitals. In 1960, nonprofit hospitals maintained on average more than three times as many beds per hospital as their for-profit counterparts; following a monotonic decline in relative size, by 2000,...

This paper, commissioned and sponsored by the IRRC Institute, analyzes the state of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing by college endowments, by aggregating multiple datasets addressing three areas of activity: 1) incorporation of ESG criteria into endowment management, 2)...

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 increasing number of socially-motivated investors...

According to different types of studies conducted in recent years, not natural but social factors will constitute a major barrier in the process of achieving sustainable development. The barrier will be quickly noticed in the countries and regions of low social capital. The purpose of this...

This study analyzes the effect that banks' investments in corporate social responsibility (CSR) have on bank performance. I find that banks' investments in CSR have a positive impact on financial performance, measured in terms of both accounting performance and stock market value. However, not...

The process of converting the economy to more sustainable production forms is the essence of bio-economy, currently becoming more and more important in all the European countries. Sustainability is a complex concept that can be quantified through an entire system of indicators. A "marker" of...