IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v316y2024i2p792-797.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A note on Steuer and Utz’s (2023) multi-objective optimization approach for generating sustainability-efficient fronts

Author

Listed:
  • Marohn, Marcel
  • Auer, Benjamin R.

Abstract

Motivated by the increasing importance of sustainability in investing, Steuer and Utz (2023) propose a new approach for integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores into the portfolio selection process. These authors claim that their multi-objective portfolio optimization problem always provides mean-variance-ESG-efficient solutions because it belongs to the class of ϵ-constraint problems. Contending that this classification is problematic, we show that the developed approach cannot guarantee efficient portfolios.

Suggested Citation

  • Marohn, Marcel & Auer, Benjamin R., 2024. "A note on Steuer and Utz’s (2023) multi-objective optimization approach for generating sustainability-efficient fronts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 316(2), pages 792-797.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:316:y:2024:i:2:p:792-797
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2024.03.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221724002248
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.03.023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Raman Uppal, 2009. "Optimal Versus Naive Diversification: How Inefficient is the 1-N Portfolio Strategy?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(5), pages 1915-1953, May.
    2. Samuel M. Hartzmark & Abigail B. Sussman, 2019. "Do Investors Value Sustainability? A Natural Experiment Examining Ranking and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 2789-2837, December.
    3. Steuer, Ralph E. & Utz, Sebastian, 2023. "Non-contour efficient fronts for identifying most preferred portfolios in sustainability investing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 742-753.
    4. Florian Berg & Julian F Kölbel & Roberto Rigobon, 2022. "Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings [Corporate social responsibility and firm risk: theory and empirical evidence]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1315-1344.
    5. Pedersen, Lasse Heje & Fitzgibbons, Shaun & Pomorski, Lukasz, 2021. "Responsible investing: The ESG-efficient frontier," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 572-597.
    6. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    7. Juha Joenväärä & Robert Kosowski, 2021. "The Effect of Regulatory Constraints on Fund Performance: New Evidence from UCITS Hedge Funds [Large sample properties of matching estimators for average treatment effects]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(1), pages 189-233.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Horn, Matthias & Oehler, Andreas, 2024. "Constructing stock portfolios by sorting on ESG ratings: Does the rating provider matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    2. Muck, Matthias & Schmidl, Thomas, 2024. "Comparing ESG score weighting approaches and stock performance differentiation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    3. Ferriani, Fabrizio, 2023. "Issuing bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic: Was there an ESG premium?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Cheong, Tsun Se & Wojewodzki, Michal & Chui, David, 2025. "The effect of ESG divergence on the financial performance of Hong Kong-listed firms: An artificial neural network approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    5. Roman Kräussl & Tobi Oladiran & Denitsa Stefanova, 2024. "A review on ESG investing: Investors’ expectations, beliefs and perceptions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 476-502, April.
    6. Luo, Di & Farag, Hisham, 2024. "ESG and aggregate disagreement," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Díaz, Antonio & Esparcia, Carlos & Alonso, Daniel & Alonso, Maria-Teresa, 2024. "Portfolio management of ESG-labeled energy companies based on PTV and ESG factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Staněk Gyönyör, Lucie & Horváth, Matúš, 2024. "Does ESG affect stock market dependence? An empirical exploration of S&P 1200 companies shows the divergent nature of E–S–G pillars," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio & Dam, Lammertjan, 2023. "The contributions of betas versus characteristics to the ESG premium," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 104-124.
    10. Giglio, Stefano & Maggiori, Matteo & Ströbel, Johannes & Tan, Zhenhao & Utkus, Stephen & Xu, Xiao, 2023. "Four Facts about ESG Beliefs and Investor Portfolios," CEPR Discussion Papers 18052, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    12. Teti, Emanuele & Dallocchio, Maurizio & L'Erario, Giulio, 2023. "The impact of ESG tilting on the performance of stock portfolios in times of crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    13. Rojo-Suárez, Javier & Alonso-Conde, Ana B., 2024. "Have shifts in investor tastes led the market portfolio to capture ESG preferences?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Bonnefon, Jean-François & Landier, Augustin & Sastry, Parinitha & Thesmar, David, 2025. "The moral preferences of investors: Experimental evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    15. Francesco Cesarone & Manuel Luis Martino & Federica Ricca & Andrea Scozzari, 2023. "Managing ESG Ratings Disagreement in Sustainable Portfolio Selection," Papers 2312.10739, arXiv.org.
    16. Armin Varmaz & Christian Fieberg & Thorsten Poddig, 2024. "Portfolio optimization for sustainable investments," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 341(2), pages 1151-1176, October.
    17. Jonas Zink, 2024. "Which investors support the transition toward a low-carbon economy? Exit and Voice in mutual funds," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(2), pages 147-161, March.
    18. Kleffel, Philipp & Muck, Matthias, 2024. "The confusion of taste and consumption: Evidence from a stated-choice experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    19. Michele Costa, 2023. "The evaluation of the effects of ESG scores on financial markets," Working Papers wp1189, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    20. Kleffel, Philipp & Muck, Matthias, 2023. "Aggregate confusion or inner conflict? An experimental analysis of investors’ reaction to greenwashing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:316:y:2024:i:2:p:792-797. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.