This paper develops a general equilibrium model of a productive economy with negative externalities. Investors are not willing to accept lower returns than their best investment alternatives and entrepreneurs maximize profits. If capital markets are subject to a search friction, an ESG fund can...

Mining is the largest sector of the Zambian economy but, as has been the case elsewhere, the relationship between mining companies and their host communities has been fractious, without a clear path towards sustainability. The severe social, economic, and environmental impacts of mining have...

This paper investigates the divergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. Based on data from six prominent rating agencies - namely, KLD (MSCI Stats), Sustainalytics, Vigeo Eiris (Moody's), RobecoSAM (SP Global), Asset4 (Refinitiv), and MSCI IVA- we decompose the divergence...

This paper represents an investigation of the communication practices used by the organizations included in the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Pilot Programme, in order to investigate how integrated reports are used as instruments for the communication of information regarding...

Corporate social responsibility has gone mainstream, and many companies have taken meaningful steps towards a more sustainable future. Yet global environmental indicators continue to worsen, and individual corporate efforts may be hitting the point of diminishing returns. Voluntary action by the...

While there has been significant progress in the measurement of an organization's environmental and social impacts from their operations, metrics to evaluate the impact of products once they come to market lag far behind. In this paper we provide a framework for systematic measurement of product...

We explore a novel survey on responsible investing by institutional investors around the world and match it to archival data on their equity portfolio holdings. We document that institutions that publicly commit to responsible investing exhibit better environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...

Comparative judgements related to economic systems (along with pending political ideologies) represent a subject of investigation that, at first glance, appertains to the "ABC" of social sciences, although the "literacy" of policy-makers, business officials, or public opinion reveals surprising...

The environmental, economic, and social impact of food value chains have attracted the attention ofa wide range of stakeholders. However, only a few studies have focused on sustainability in the foodindustry in terms of social responsibility from a developing country perspective. Indeed,...

Prior studies show that corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is informative to investors but lacks credibility. This study examines whether a commitment to audits of financial outcomes, proxied by audit fees, is associated with greater CSR reporting credibility. We find that audit...