Index providers increasingly offer sustainable stock indices based on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings of firms. The performance of such indices with ESG tilts is driven by the impact of the applied weighting methodology and by the ESG firm ratings. In this paper, we focus on...

The rising sustainability awareness among regulators, consumers and investors results in major sustainability risks for firms. We construct three ESG risk factors (Environmental, Social, and Governance) to quantify the ESG risk exposures of firms. Taking these factors into account significantly...

This study examines whether gender diversity in firms’ upper echelons pays for investors by comparing the performance of gender-diverse portfolios in 19 international markets. First, using a portfolio approach, we compare the risk-adjusted performance and risk exposures of stock portfolios...

This paper investigates the role of countries' environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in sovereign CDS markets. Based on data for 60 countries from 2007 to 2017, we find that countries with superior ESG performance do not only show lower credit default swap (CDS) spreads, they...

This is the first paper analyzing the impact of index momentum factors on the performance of international and global equity funds. Extending an international, index-based version of the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model by adding the factors of country momentum and sector momentum, we...

The Volkswagen emissions scandal is by far the largest case of emissions cheating in automotive history and had wide-reaching consequences for the industry throughout the world. This study examines the spillover effects to competitors and suppliers following Volkswagen's public admission of...