Micro-entrepreneurs in emerging markets often rely on informal lenders for their routine borrowing needs. This paper investigates micro-entrepreneurs' and informal lenders' incentives to participate in a lender-borrower relationship in a market in which repayments are neither law-protected nor...

We present a model of ESG integration where borrowers can deviate from ESG promises ex-post. Borrowers are incentivized to pursue ESG projects only when lenders can charge a high borrowing rate, which decreases the borrowers’ private benefit from pursuing financial returns. In the presence of...

A growing fraction of companies globally have made commitments to reduce their carbon emissions by a certain date. While the companies that make commitments subsequently reduce their emissions, the effect on overall emissions of companies (including those that do not commit) has been small; the...

In previous versions of our Value vs. Glamour study we have explored the historical performance of stocks based on their fundamental characteristics and quantified a value premium. Results have shown that over the long term, unpopular “value” stocks, those that are associated with companies...

Pressure is mounting on institutional investors to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from their fossil fuel-related investments. The latest climate change assessments indicate that 1.5°C emission pathways require (1) halving CO2 emissions between 2010 to 2030, and net zero CO2 in 2050;...

This paper investigates how sustainable investing affects returns and investor flows of U.S. equity funds during the war in Ukraine. We find that funds with high sustainability ratings, low carbon risk, and low controversial involvement underperform their low sustainability counterparts....