IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v53y2023ics1544612323000120.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How reactive is investment in US green bonds and ESG-eligible stocks in times of crisis? Exploring the COVID-19 crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Perote, Javier
  • Vicente-Lorente, José D.
  • Zuñiga-Vicente, Jose Angel

Abstract

This study examines how green bonds and environmental, social and governance (ESG) stock market returns have reacted to the COVID-19 crisis in the US. Unlike the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 index, the response of green bonds and ESG markets to pandemic progress is nonlinear: A low (large) level of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 has a positive (negative) impact. Furthermore, the implemented containment policies (stringency measures and vaccination campaigns) are positively valued, but their simultaneous use is perceived by investors as a bad signal. Overall, our findings question the resilience of investments in green bonds and ESG markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Perote, Javier & Vicente-Lorente, José D. & Zuñiga-Vicente, Jose Angel, 2023. "How reactive is investment in US green bonds and ESG-eligible stocks in times of crisis? Exploring the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:53:y:2023:i:c:s1544612323000120
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.103638
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323000120
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.103638?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. Topcu, Mert & Gulal, Omer Serkan, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on emerging stock markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    2. James X. Zhan & Amelia U. Santos-Paulino, 2021. "Investing in the Sustainable Development Goals: Mobilization, channeling, and impact," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 166-183, March.
    3. Kang Hua Cao & Qiqi Li & Yun Liu & Chi-Keung Woo, 2021. "Covid-19’s adverse effects on a stock market index," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(14), pages 1157-1161, August.
    4. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F Wagner, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 622-655.
    5. Al-Awadhi, Abdullah M. & Alsaifi, Khaled & Al-Awadhi, Ahmad & Alhammadi, Salah, 2020. "Death and contagious infectious diseases: Impact of the COVID-19 virus on stock market returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    6. Rouatbi, Wael & Demir, Ender & Kizys, Renatas & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Immunizing markets against the pandemic: COVID-19 vaccinations and stock volatility around the world," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    7. Chun-Ping Chang & Gen-Fu Feng & Mingbo Zheng, 2021. "Government Fighting Pandemic, Stock Market Return, and COVID-19 Virus Outbreak," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(8), pages 2389-2406, June.
    8. Kizys, Renatas & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Donadelli, Michael, 2021. "From COVID-19 herd immunity to investor herding in international stock markets: The role of government and regulatory restrictions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    9. Itay Goldstein & Ralph S J Koijen & Holger M Mueller, 2021. "COVID-19 and Its Impact on Financial Markets and the Real Economy [A model of endogenous risk intolerance and LSAPs: Asset prices and aggregate demand in a “COVID-19” shock]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5135-5148.
    10. Omura, Akihiro & Roca, Eduardo & Nakai, Miwa, 2021. "Does responsible investing pay during economic downturns: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    11. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 2020. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    12. Zaremba, Adam & Aharon, David Y. & Demir, Ender & Kizys, Renatas & Zawadka, Dariusz, 2021. "COVID-19, government policy responses, and stock market liquidity around the world: A note," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Yi, Xing & Bai, Caiquan & Lyu, Siyuan & Dai, Lu, 2021. "The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on China's green bond market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    14. Umar, Zaghum & Gubareva, Mariya & Tran, Dang Khoa & Teplova, Tamara, 2021. "Impact of the Covid-19 induced panic on the Environmental, Social and Governance leaders equity volatility: A time-frequency analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Dutta, Anupam & Bouri, Elie & Noor, Md Hasib, 2021. "Climate bond, stock, gold, and oil markets: Dynamic correlations and hedging analyses during the COVID-19 outbreak," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Omane-Adjepong, Maurice & Alagidede, Imhotep Paul, 2021. "Exploration of safe havens for Africa's stock markets: A test case under COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    17. Chan, Kam Fong & Chen, Zhuo & Wen, Yuanji & Xu, Tong, 2022. "COVID-19 vaccines and global stock markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    18. Zachary Folger-Laronde & Sep Pashang & Leah Feor & Amr ElAlfy, 2022. "ESG ratings and financial performance of exchange-traded funds during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 490-496, April.
    19. Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Adrien Desroziers & Olivier David Zerbib, 2021. "Socially Responsible Investing Strategies under Pressure: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," Post-Print hal-03526650, HAL.
    20. Meng‐Feng Yen & Yung‐Ming Shiu & Chi‐Feng Wang, 2019. "Socially responsible investment returns and news: Evidence from Asia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1565-1578, November.
    21. Zaghum Umar & Mariya Gubareva, 2021. "The relationship between the Covid-19 media coverage and the Environmental, Social and Governance leaders equity volatility: a time-frequency wavelet analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(27), pages 3193-3206, June.
    22. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Economic impact of government interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence from financial markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    23. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    24. Cui, Tianxiang & Suleman, Muhammad Tahir & Zhang, Hongwei, 2022. "Do the green bonds overreact to the COVID-19 pandemic?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    25. Helen Chiappini & Gianfranco Vento & Leonardo De Palma, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Sustainable Indexes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    26. Joakim Sandberg & Carmen Juravle & Ted Hedesström & Ian Hamilton, 2009. "The Heterogeneity of Socially Responsible Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 519-533, July.
    27. Aggarwal, Shobhit & Nawn, Samarpan & Dugar, Amish, 2021. "What caused global stock market meltdown during the COVID pandemic–Lockdown stringency or investor panic?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    28. Nicholas Apergis & Emmanuel Apergis, 2022. "The role of Covid-19 for Chinese stock returns: evidence from a GARCHX model," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 1175-1183, September.
    29. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Liu, Guangqiang, 2021. "COVID-19 lockdowns, stimulus packages, travel bans, and stock returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    30. Xie, Lijuan & Wang, Mei & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2022. "Trust and the stock market reaction to lockdown and reopening announcements: A cross-country evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    31. Pavlova, Ivelina & de Boyrie, Maria E., 2022. "ESG ETFs and the COVID-19 stock market crash of 2020: Did clean funds fare better?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    32. Elizabeth Demers & Jurian Hendrikse & Philip Joos & Baruch Lev, 2021. "ESG did not immunize stocks during the COVID‐19 crisis, but investments in intangible assets did," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 433-462, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mao, Qian & Ma, Xinyuan & Sun, Yunpeng, 2023. "Study of impacts of blockchain technology on renewable energy resource findings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 802-808.
    2. Lu, Xunfa & Huang, Nan & Mo, Jianlei & Ye, Zhitao, 2023. "Dynamics of the return and volatility connectedness among green finance markets during the COVID-19 pandemic," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Banerjee, Ameet Kumar & Sensoy, Ahmet & Goodell, John W., 2024. "Connectivity and spillover during crises: Highlighting the prominent and growing role of green energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Bhattacherjee, Purba & Mishra, Sibanjan & Bouri, Elie, 2024. "Does asset-based uncertainty drive asymmetric return connectedness across regional ESG markets?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Wei Su, Chi & Yue Song, Xin & Qin, Meng & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona & Umar, Muhammad, 2024. "Optimistic or pessimistic: How do investors impact the green bond market?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    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. Rouatbi, Wael & Demir, Ender & Kizys, Renatas & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Immunizing markets against the pandemic: COVID-19 vaccinations and stock volatility around the world," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Who should be afraid of infections? Pandemic exposure and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Kotcharin, Suntichai & Maneenop, Sakkakom & Jaroenjitrkam, Anutchanat, 2023. "The impact of government policy responses on airline stock return during the COVID-19 crisis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Zaremba, Adam & Kizys, Renatas & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Aharon, David Y. & Demir, Ender, 2021. "The quest for multidimensional financial immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from international stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Bongiovanni, Alessio & Fiandrino, Simona, 2024. "Does firm environmental performance mitigate the market reaction to COVID-19 uncertainty?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Karikari, Nana Kwasi & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko, 2022. "The outbreak of COVID-19 and stock market liquidity: Evidence from emerging and developed equity markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Lin, Xiang & Bali Swain, Ranjula, 2024. "Performance of negatively screened sustainable investments during crisis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1226-1247.
    8. Pham, Son Duy & Nguyen, Thao Thac Thanh & Do, Hung Xuan & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Portfolio diversification during the COVID-19 pandemic: Do vaccinations matter?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Kamal, Javed Bin & Wohar, Mark, 2023. "Heterogenous responses of stock markets to covid related news and sentiments: Evidence from the 1st year of pandemic," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 68-85.
    10. Rim El Khoury & Nohade Nasrallah & Khaled Hussainey, 2022. "Exploring the performance of responsible companies in G20 during the COVID-19 outbreak," Post-Print hal-03761427, HAL.
    11. Aharon, David Y. & Siev, Smadar, 2021. "COVID-19, government interventions and emerging capital markets performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto, 2024. "Sustainable investing in times of crisis: Evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    13. Gu, Tiantian & Venkateswaran, Anand & Erath, Marc, 2023. "Impact of fiscal stimulus on volatility: A cross-country analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Demir, Ender & Danisman, Gamze Ozturk, 2021. "Banking sector reactions to COVID-19: The role of bank-specific factors and government policy responses," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Martins, António Miguel & Cró, Susana, 2022. "Airline stock markets reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak and vaccines: An event study," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    16. Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Charteris, Ailie & Bwanya, Princess Rutendo & Brzeszczyński, Janusz, 2022. "The impact and role of COVID-19 uncertainty: A global industry analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Huynh, Nhan & Dao, Anh & Nguyen, Dat, 2021. "Openness, economic uncertainty, government responses, and international financial market performance during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    18. Yang, Junhua & Agyei, Samuel Kwaku & Bossman, Ahmed & Gubareva, Mariya & Marfo-Yiadom, Edward, 2024. "Energy, metals, market uncertainties, and ESG stocks: Analysing predictability and safe havens," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    19. Riccardo Savio & Edoardo D’Andrassi & Francesca Ventimiglia, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review on ESG during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    20. Meral Kagitci, 2020. "The impact of COVID – 19 on the stocks’ yield from the pharmaceutical sector," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 9(5), pages 58-71, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG indices; Green bonds; Sustainable investment; COVID-19 pandemic; Stringency index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

    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:finlet:v:53:y:2023:i:c:s1544612323000120. 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/frl .

    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.