IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i15p8500-d604546.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does ESG Disclosure Affect Corporate-Bond Credit Spreads? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Yuexiang Yang

    (School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China)

  • Zhihui Du

    (School of Finance and Banking, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Zhen Zhang

    (School of Finance and Banking, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Guanqun Tong

    (Canvard College, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 101118, China)

  • Rongxi Zhou

    (School of Finance and Banking, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

Abstract

With the exponential development of an ecological and sustainable economy and society, the concept and practice of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments are being popularized in the capital market of China. ESG disclosure is an important supplement to financial disclosure and plays an increasingly significant role in asset pricing. In this paper, we selected corporate bond data in China’s secondary bond market from 2015 to 2020, and introduced the Nelson–Siegel model to study the influence of ESG disclosure on corporate bond credit spreads in the secondary market. This model passed robustness tests when we used alternative data fitted by the modified Nelson–Siegel model. Results show that ESG disclosure significantly reduces credit spreads on corporate bonds in the secondary market. State ownership and industry play significant roles in moderating the impact of ESG disclosure on corporate bond credit spreads. Specifically, the ESG disclosure of non-state-owned companies and companies in non-high-pollution and -energy-consumption industries has a greater impact on reducing corporate bond credit spreads. Therefore, we urge regulatory departments to establish a sound ESG disclosure evaluation system, and the issue companies to improve the quality of their ESG disclosure, especially non-state-owned companies, and those in non-high-pollution and -energy-consumption industries. Corporate bond investors would benefit from integrating ESG information into their investment decision-making process.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuexiang Yang & Zhihui Du & Zhen Zhang & Guanqun Tong & Rongxi Zhou, 2021. "Does ESG Disclosure Affect Corporate-Bond Credit Spreads? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8500-:d:604546
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8500/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8500/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ga-Young Jang & Hyoung-Goo Kang & Ju-Yeong Lee & Kyounghun Bae, 2020. "ESG Scores and the Credit Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Subhransu S. Mohanty & Odette Mohanty & Mike Ivanof, 2021. "Alpha enhancement in global equity markets with ESG overlay on factor-based investment strategies," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 213-242, September.
    3. David A. Ziebart & Sara A. Reiter, 1992. "Bond ratings, bond yields and financial information," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 252-282, September.
    4. Peixin Li & Rongxi Zhou & Yahui Xiong, 2020. "Can ESG Performance Affect Bond Default Rate? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    6. Gunnar Friede & Timo Busch & Alexander Bassen, 2015. "ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 210-233, October.
    7. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 111-132, December.
    8. Fatemi, Ali & Fooladi, Iraj & Tehranian, Hassan, 2015. "Valuation effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 182-192.
    9. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2003. "Founding family ownership and the agency cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 263-285, May.
    10. Liao, Hsien-Hsing & Chen, Tsung-Kang & Lu, Chia-Wu, 2009. "Bank credit risk and structural credit models: Agency and information asymmetry perspectives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1520-1530, August.
    11. Dutta, Sunil & Nezlobin, Alexander, 2017. "Information disclosure, firm growth, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 415-431.
    12. Duffie, Darrell & Lando, David, 2001. "Term Structures of Credit Spreads with Incomplete Accounting Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(3), pages 633-664, May.
    13. Ben S. Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1995. "Inside the Black Box: The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 27-48, Fall.
    14. Guangming Gong & Si Xu & Xun Gong, 2018. "On the Value of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: An Empirical Investigation of Corporate Bond Issues in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 227-258, June.
    15. Clarkson, Pete & Guedes, Jose & Thompson, Rex, 1996. "On the Diversification, Observability, and Measurement of Estimation Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 69-84, March.
    16. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Jonathan Peillex, 2018. "Does it really pay to do better? Exploring the financial effects of changes in CSR ratings," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(51), pages 5464-5482, November.
    17. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    18. Yingjun Lu & Indra Abeysekera, 2017. "What Do Stakeholders Care About? Investigating Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 169-184, August.
    19. Ingram, Rw & Frazier, Kb, 1980. "Environmental Performance And Corporate Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 614-622.
    20. Longstaff, Francis A & Schwartz, Eduardo S, 1995. "A Simple Approach to Valuing Risky Fixed and Floating Rate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(3), pages 789-819, July.
    21. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    22. Cohen, Daniel A. & Zarowin, Paul, 2010. "Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 2-19, May.
    23. Manapon Limkriangkrai & SzeKee Koh & Robert B. Durand, 2017. "Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Profiles, Stock Returns, and Financial Policy: Australian Evidence," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 461-471, September.
    24. M. Benlemlih & J. Jaballah & Jonathan Peillex, 2018. "Does It Really Pay to Do Better? Exploring the Financial Effects of Changes in CSR Ratings," Post-Print hal-03680601, HAL.
    25. Xiaoneng Zhu, 2013. "Credit Spread Changes and Monetary Policy Surprises: The Evidence from the Fed Funds Futures Market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 103-128, February.
    26. Wiseman, Joanne, 1982. "An evaluation of environmental disclosures made in corporate annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 53-63, January.
    27. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    28. 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).
    29. Yu, Fan, 2005. "Accounting transparency and the term structure of credit spreads," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 53-84, January.
    30. Samuel B. Bonsall & Brian P. Miller, 2017. "The impact of narrative disclosure readability on bond ratings and the cost of debt," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 608-643, June.
    31. Nelson, Charles R & Siegel, Andrew F, 1987. "Parsimonious Modeling of Yield Curves," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(4), pages 473-489, October.
    32. Azmi, Wajahat & Hassan, M. Kabir & Houston, Reza & Karim, Mohammad Sydul, 2021. "ESG activities and banking performance: International evidence from emerging economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    33. Chen, Hong-Yi & Yang, Sharon S., 2020. "Do Investors exaggerate corporate ESG information? Evidence of the ESG momentum effect in the Taiwanese market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    34. Laura Mervelskemper & Daniel Streit, 2017. "Enhancing Market Valuation of ESG Performance: Is Integrated Reporting Keeping its Promise?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 536-549, May.
    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. Liu, Min & Guo, Tongji & Ping, Weiying & Luo, Liangqing, 2023. "Sustainability and stability: Will ESG investment reduce the return and volatility spillover effects across the Chinese financial market?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Lai, Xiaobing & Zhang, Fan, 2022. "Can ESG certification help company get out of over-indebtedness? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Tan, Yafei & Zhu, Zhaohui, 2022. "The effect of ESG rating events on corporate green innovation in China: The mediating role of financial constraints and managers' environmental awareness," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Yalin Mo & Fenglan Wei & Yihan Huang, 2024. "Does Fulfilling ESG Responsibilities Curb Corporate Leverage Manipulation? Evidence from Chinese-Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Xuemei Zhou & Sifeng Nian, 2024. "Sustainable Pathways: ESG Disclosure Performance and Optimization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-25, May.
    6. Binbin Yang & Sang Do Park, 2024. "Under the ESG Dome of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-23, August.
    7. Changjiang Zhang & Sihan Zhang & Yue Zhang & Yuqi Yang & Kai Lan, 2024. "Does Green Finance Policy Contribute to ESG Disclosure of Listed Companies? A Quasi-Natural Experiment from China," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    8. Tang, Ying & Wang, Biliang & Pan, Ningning & Li, Zhiyong, 2023. "The impact of environmental information disclosure on the cost of green bond: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Yunfu Zhu & Haoling Yang & Ma Zhong, 2023. "Do ESG Ratings of Chinese Firms Converge or Diverge? A Comparative Analysis Based on Multiple Domestic and International Ratings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Xingshuai Wang & Ehsan Elahi & Zainab Khalid, 2022. "Do Green Finance Policies Foster Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance of Corporate?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    11. Qian, Kun & Shi, Bingjie & Song, Yunling & Wu, Hao, 2023. "ESG performance and loan contracting in an emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Zhang, Chunqiang & Hao, Dayu & Gao, Lu & Xia, Fan & Zhang, Linlang, 2024. "Do ESG ratings improve capital market trading activities?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 195-210.

    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. Meles, Antonio & Salerno, Dario & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo & Zhang, Jianing, 2023. "The influence of green innovation on default risk: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 692-710.
    2. Ester Chen & Ilanit Gavious & Nadav Steinberg, 2019. "Dividends from unrealized earnings and default risk," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 491-535, June.
    3. Guo, Liang, 2013. "Determinants of credit spreads: The role of ambiguity and information uncertainty," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 279-297.
    4. Chen, Tsung-Kang & Chen, Yan-Shing & Liao, Hsien-Hsing, 2011. "Labor unions, bargaining power and corporate bond yield spreads: Structural credit model perspectives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 2084-2098, August.
    5. Monica Singhania & Dimple Gupta, 2024. "Impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure on firm risk: A meta‐analytical review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3573-3613, July.
    6. Zhen Sun & Jianfen Feng & Rongxi Zhou & Yue Yu & Yaojian Deng, 2022. "Can Labeled Green Bonds Reduce Financing Cost in China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Tsung-Kang Chen & Yijie Tseng & Yu-Ting Hsieh, 2015. "Real Earnings Management Uncertainty and Corporate Credit Risk," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 413-440, September.
    8. Duffie, Darrell, 2005. "Credit risk modeling with affine processes," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 2751-2802, November.
    9. Naciye Sekerci & Jamil Jaballah & Marc van Essen & Nadine Kammerlander, 2022. "Investors’ Reactions to CSR News in Family Versus Nonfamily Firms: A Study on Signal (In)credibility," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(1), pages 82-116, January.
    10. Giesecke, Kay, 2006. "Default and information," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2281-2303, November.
    11. Chen, Ren-Raw & Chidambaran, N.K. & Imerman, Michael B. & Sopranzetti, Ben J., 2014. "Liquidity, leverage, and Lehman: A structural analysis of financial institutions in crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 117-139.
    12. Xue, Fei & Wang, Xin & Xie, Yan & Zhang, Weihua, 2022. "Does CEO's early life experience affect corporate bond yield spread? Evidence from China's great famine," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1012-1024.
    13. Chen, Tsung-Kang & Liao, Hsien-Hsing & Chen, Wei-Lun, 2014. "Production efficiency uncertainty and corporate credit risk: Structural form credit model perspectives," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 266-280.
    14. Su-Lien Lu & Kuo-Jung Lee, 2021. "Investigating the Determinants of Credit Spread Using a Markov Regime-Switching Model: Evidence from Banks in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-25, August.
    15. Chang, Charles & Fuh, Cheng-Der & Kao, Chu-Lan Michael, 2017. "Reading between the ratings: Modeling residual credit risk and yield overlap," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 114-135.
    16. Han, Bing & Zhou, Yi, 2015. "Understanding the term structure of credit default swap spreads," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 18-35.
    17. Mr. Marcel Peter & Martín Grandes, 2005. "How Important Is Sovereign Risk in Determining Corporate Default Premia? The Case of South Africa," IMF Working Papers 2005/217, International Monetary Fund.
    18. 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".
    19. Nejadmalayeri, Ali & Nishikawa, Takeshi & Rao, Ramesh P., 2013. "Sarbanes-Oxley Act and corporate credit spreads," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2991-3006.
    20. Augustin, Patrick & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Wang, Sarah Qian, 2014. "Credit Default Swaps: A Survey," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 9(1-2), pages 1-196, December.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8500-:d:604546. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.