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An Empirical Study of the World Price of Sustainability

Author

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  • Yuchao Xiao
  • Robert Faff
  • Philip Gharghori
  • Darren Lee

Abstract

The core goal of this study is to empirically investigate whether there is a “world price” of corporate sustainability. This is assessed in the context of standard asset pricing models—in particular, by asking whether a risk premium attaches to a sustainability factor after controlling for the Fama–French factors. Both time-series and cross-sectional tests are formulated and applied. The results show that (1) global Fama–French factors have strong power to explain global equity returns and (2) sustainability investments have no significant impact on global equity returns. The absence of a significant relationship between sustainability and returns implies that large institutional investors are free to implement sustainability mandates without fear of breaching their fiduciary duties from realising negative returns due to incorporating a sustainability investment process. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Yuchao Xiao & Robert Faff & Philip Gharghori & Darren Lee, 2013. "An Empirical Study of the World Price of Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 297-310, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:114:y:2013:i:2:p:297-310
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1342-2
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    7. Atan, Ruhaya & Alam, Md. Mahmudul & Said, Jamaliah & Zamri, Mohamed, 2019. "The Impacts of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors on Firm Performance: Panel Study of Malaysian Companies," SocArXiv ntz52, Center for Open Science.
    8. Thomas Walker & Kerstin Lopatta & Thomas Kaspereit, 2014. "Corporate sustainability in asset pricing models and mutual funds performance measurement," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 28(4), pages 363-407, November.
    9. Mohanasundaram, S. & Kasilingam, R., 2024. "The sustainability factor in asset pricing: Empirical evidence from the Indian market," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 206-213.
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