IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v131y2024ics0140988324000343.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants and effects of country ESG controversy

Author

Listed:
  • Beckmann, Joscha
  • Rogmann, Jennifer

Abstract

This paper provides a new perspective on the economic implications of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings. Using data for 152 countries, we introduce a new country measure which reflects controversies regarding ESG performance based on media coverage in real time. We evaluate our measure at the country and global level and over different frequencies, and illustrate that global ESG controversy is positively related to established policy uncertainty measures, but also displays distinct dynamics. In a second step, we evaluate cross-country determinants and show that political determinants, the structure of the energy sector, and GDP per capita affect ESG controversies. Finally, we show that ESG controversery has significant effects on the global level.

Suggested Citation

  • Beckmann, Joscha & Rogmann, Jennifer, 2024. "Determinants and effects of country ESG controversy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:131:y:2024:i:c:s0140988324000343
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107326
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988324000343
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107326?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. Giovanni Caggiano & Efrem Castelnuovo & Juan Manuel Figueres, 2020. "Economic Policy Uncertainty Spillovers in Booms and Busts," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(1), pages 125-155, February.
    2. Christiane Baumeister & Dimitris Korobilis & Thomas K. Lee, 2022. "Energy Markets and Global Economic Conditions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(4), pages 828-844, October.
    3. Crifo, Patricia & Diaye, Marc-Arthur & Oueghlissi, Rim, 2017. "The effect of countries’ ESG ratings on their sovereign borrowing costs," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 13-20.
    4. Lubos Pástor & Pietro Veronesi, 2012. "Uncertainty about Government Policy and Stock Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1219-1264, August.
    5. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2007. "Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 129-152, Spring.
    6. Allan Drazen, 2001. "The Political Business Cycle after 25 Years," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15, pages 75-138, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Wang, Xiaoyuan & Wang, Jiahaoran & Guan, Weimin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2023. "Role of ESG investments in achieving COP-26 targets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    9. Filippou, Ilias & Taylor, Mark P., 2021. "Pricing ethics in the foreign exchange market: Environmental, Social and Governance ratings and currency premia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 66-77.
    10. Hites Ahir & Nicholas Bloom & Davide Furceri, 2022. "The world uncertainty index," CEP Discussion Papers dp1842, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. 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.
    12. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Nina Biljanovska & Francesco Grigoli & Martina Hengge, 2021. "Fear thy neighbor: Spillovers from economic policy uncertainty," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 409-438, May.
    14. Reyes Samaniego-Medina & Pilar Giraldez-Puig, 2022. "Do Sustainability Risks Affect Credit Ratings? Evidence from European Banks," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(61), pages 720-720, August.
    15. Billio, Monica & Costola, Michele & Hristova, Iva & Latino, Carmelo & Pelizzon, Loriana, 2022. "Sustainable finance: A journey toward ESG and climate risk," SAFE Working Paper Series 349, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    16. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    17. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Filis, George, 2013. "Dynamic co-movements of stock market returns, implied volatility and policy uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 87-92.
    18. Avramov, Doron & Cheng, Si & Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Sustainable investing with ESG rating uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 642-664.
    19. Gregor Dorfleitner & Christian Kreuzer & Christian Sparrer, 2020. "ESG controversies and controversial ESG: about silent saints and small sinners," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(5), pages 393-412, September.
    20. Schiemann, Frank & Tietmeyer, Raphael, 2022. "ESG Controversies, ESG Disclosure and Analyst Forecast Accuracy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    21. Clara Berestycki & Stefano Carattini & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Tobias Kruse, 2022. "Measuring and assessing the effects of climate policy uncertainty," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1724, OECD Publishing.
    22. Paola Brighi & Antonio Carlo Francesco Della Bina & Valeria Venturelli, 2022. "Do ESG Investments Mitigate ESG Controversies? Evidence From International Data," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0084, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    23. Alex Edmans & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2022. "Sustainable Finance [A simplemodel of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1309-1313.
    24. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Does green finance really inhibit extreme hypocritical ESG risk? A greenwashing perspective exploration," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    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. Michele Rubino & Ilaria Mastrorocco & Giovanni Maria Garegnani, 2024. "The influence of market and institutional factors on ESG rating disagreement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3916-3926, September.
    2. Gabauer, David & Gupta, Rangan, 2018. "On the transmission mechanism of country-specific and international economic uncertainty spillovers: Evidence from a TVP-VAR connectedness decomposition approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 63-71.
    3. Hong, Yun & Zhang, Rushan & Zhang, Feipeng, 2024. "Time-varying causality impact of economic policy uncertainty on stock market returns: Global evidence from developed and emerging countries," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Andrieș, Alin Marius & Sprincean, Nicu, 2023. "ESG performance and banks’ funding costs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Sharma, Susan Sunila & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2018. "Can economic policy uncertainty predict stock returns? Global evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 134-150.
    6. Caterina Lucarelli & Sabrina Severini, 2024. "Anatomy of the chimera: Environmental, Social, and Governance ratings beyond the myth," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4198-4217, July.
    7. Vu Le Tran & Guillaume Coqueret, 2023. "ESG news spillovers across the value chain," Post-Print hal-04325746, HAL.
    8. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Burkhard Raunig, 2023. "Using causal graphs to test for the direction of instantaneous causality between economic policy uncertainty and stock market volatility," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1579-1598, October.
    10. Tihana Škrinjarić & Zrinka Orlović, 2020. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Market Spillovers: Case of Selected CEE Markets," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-33, July.
    11. Giovanni Caggiano & Efrem Castelnuovo, 2023. "Global financial uncertainty," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 432-449, April.
    12. Vu Le Tran & Guillaume Coqueret, 2023. "ESG news spillovers across the value chain," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 677-710, December.
    13. Zhou, Mengling & Huang, Zizhen & Jiang, Kangqi, 2024. "Environmental, social, and governance performance and corporate debt maturity in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    14. Batabyal, Sourav & Killins, Robert, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and stock market returns: Evidence from Canada," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    15. Haddou, Samira, 2024. "Determinants of CDS in core and peripheral European countries: A comparative study during crisis and calm periods," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Li, Xiao-Ming, 2017. "New evidence on economic policy uncertainty and equity premium," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA), pages 41-56.
    17. Yuan, Di & Li, Sufang & Li, Rong & Zhang, Feipeng, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty, oil and stock markets in BRIC: Evidence from quantiles analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    18. Baur, Dirk G. & Smales, Lee A., 2020. "Hedging geopolitical risk with precious metals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    19. Das, Debojyoti & Kannadhasan, M. & Bhattacharyya, Malay, 2019. "Do the emerging stock markets react to international economic policy uncertainty, geopolitical risk and financial stress alike?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-19.
    20. Chow Sheung-Chi & Cunado Juncal & Gupta Rangan & Wong Wing-Keung, 2018. "Causal relationships between economic policy uncertainty and housing market returns in China and India: evidence from linear and nonlinear panel and time series models," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 22(2), pages 1-15, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG; Controversies; Uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eneeco:v:131:y:2024:i:c:s0140988324000343. 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/eneco .

    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.