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The effect of countries’ ESG ratings on their sovereign borrowing costs

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  • Crifo, Patricia
  • Diaye, Marc-Arthur
  • Oueghlissi, Rim

Abstract

We examine whether the extra-financial performance of countries on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors matters for sovereign bonds markets. Using a panel regression model over a data set with 23 OECD countries from 2007 to 2012, we show that ESG ratings significantly decrease government bond spreads.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:66:y:2017:i:c:p:13-20
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2017.04.011
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    Cited by:

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    2. Cumming, Douglas & Meoli, Michele & Rossi, Alice & Vismara, Silvio, 2024. "ESG and crowdfunding platforms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    3. Boitan, Iustina Alina & Marchewka-Bartkowiak, Kamilla, 2022. "Climate change and the pricing of sovereign debt: Insights from European markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Liu, Lian & Nemoto, Naoko & Lu, Changrong, 2023. "The Effect of ESG performance on the stock market during the COVID-19 Pandemic — Evidence from Japan," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 702-712.
    5. Marc-Arthur Diaye & Sy-Hoa Ho & Rim Oueghlissi, 2022. "ESG performance and economic growth: a panel co-integration analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 99-122, February.
    6. Alexandru Cosmin BUTEICÃ & Cãtãlin Emilian HUIDUMAC-PETRESCU, 2019. "A Review Of Recent Trends To Establish Nature-Related Financial Considerations," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 692-701, November.
    7. Vincenzo D’Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Francesca Lipari, 2020. "Sustainable Disclosure Policies and Sustainable Performance of European Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Hübel, Benjamin, 2022. "Do markets value ESG risks in sovereign credit curves?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 134-148.
    9. Beckmann, Joscha & Rogmann, Jennifer, 2024. "Determinants and effects of country ESG controversy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    10. Maria E. de Boyrie & Ivelina Pavlova, 2020. "Analysing the link between environmental performance and sovereign credit risk," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(54), pages 5949-5966, November.
    11. Alves, Carlos Francisco & Meneses, Lilian Lima, 2024. "ESG scores and debt costs: Exploring indebtedness, agency costs, and financial system impact," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Y. Y. Yip* & H. H. Lee, 2018. "Does ESG Disclosure Create Value to Firms? The Malaysian Case," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 515-521:6.
    13. Anand, Arsh & Vanpée, Rosanne & Lončarski, Igor, 2023. "Sustainability and sovereign credit risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Changhong Zhao & Yu Guo & Jiahai Yuan & Mengya Wu & Daiyu Li & Yiou Zhou & Jiangang Kang, 2018. "ESG and Corporate Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from China’s Listed Power Generation Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Jiang, Yong & Al-Nassar, Nassar S. & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun & Yang, Xiao-Guang, 2024. "Tail connectedness between category-specific policy uncertainty, sovereign debt risk, and stock volatility during a high inflation period," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    16. Shu-Ling Lin & Xiao Jin, 2023. "Does ESG Predict Systemic Banking Crises? A Computational Economics Model of Early Warning Systems with Interpretable Multi-Variable LSTM based on Mixture Attention," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, January.
    17. 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.
    18. Eliwa, Yasser & Aboud, Ahmed & Saleh, Ahmed, 2021. "ESG practices and the cost of debt: Evidence from EU countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Anamaria Dan & Adriana Tiron-Tudor, 2021. "The Determinants of Green Bond Issuance in the European Union," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, September.
    20. Niranjan Chipalkatti & Quan Vu Le & Meenakshi Rishi, 2021. "Sustainability and Society: Do Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors Matter for Foreign Direct Investment?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    21. Youngtae Yoo, 2021. "Non-Financial Environmental Responsibility Information, Information Environment, and Credit Ratings: Evidence from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, January.
    22. M. Utku Özmen, 2019. "Economic complexity and sovereign risk premia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(3), pages 1714-1726.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Extra-financial ratings; ESG performance; Government bond spreads;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems

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