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The Stock Performance of Green Bond Issuers During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of China

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  • Jiongye Jin

    (Wenzhou-Kean University)

  • Jianing Zhang

    (Wenzhou-Kean University
    Wenzhou-Kean University)

Abstract

The green bond (GB) is a new financial product in the green finance field that has recently become a corporate social responsibility (CSR) tool for organizations. Previous studies show that high-CSR firms receive more trust from shareholders during a financial crisis. This paper aims to assess the stock performance of publicly listed Chinese companies that issued GBs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bond sample covers 2016–2019 and consists of 67 listed issuers. The paper uses the event study method based on the market and Fama-French (1993) three-factor models. Our results show that GB issuers exhibited significantly positive cumulative abnormal stock returns on the official announcement dates of the COVID-19 outbreak. The positive cumulative abnormal returns are mainly driven by non-financial GB issuers rather than financial GB issuers. The results reflect the attitudes of investors toward GB-issuing companies primarily in the context of the crisis and contribute to the development of green finance policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiongye Jin & Jianing Zhang, 2023. "The Stock Performance of Green Bond Issuers During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of China," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 30(1), pages 211-230, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:apfinm:v:30:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10690-022-09386-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10690-022-09386-4
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