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Is ESG a systematic risk factor for US equity mutual funds?

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  • Ick Jin

Abstract

On the outperformance of responsible investing (RI) which incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) into investment decisions, the empirical evidence to date is inconsistent from the viewpoint of ex-post performance. This paper tries to explain the nature of return differential between RI and conventional investing within the well-known risk-return paradigm. From the viewpoint of ex-ante equity risk premium, the five factor model of Fama and French [2015. “A Five-factor Asset Pricing Model.” Journal of Financial Economics 116: 1–22] combined with a ESG-related factor applies to returns on 1,425 US open-end equity funds for the period from April 2009 to December 2016. Empirical findings include that US open-end equity funds tend to hedge the ESG-related systematic risk, and that the exposure to ESG-related systematic risk is significantly priced in the market. The result implies that RI provides the downside protection against ESG-related systematic risk which is not reduced even through extensive diversification.

Suggested Citation

  • Ick Jin, 2018. "Is ESG a systematic risk factor for US equity mutual funds?," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 72-93, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jsustf:v:8:y:2018:i:1:p:72-93
    DOI: 10.1080/20430795.2017.1395251
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    Cited by:

    1. Miriam Breitenstein & Duc Khuong Nguyen & Thomas Walther, 2021. "Environmental Hazards And Risk Management In The Financial Sector: A Systematic Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 512-538, April.
    2. Jootae Kim & Sungjin Son & Ick Jin, 2022. "The Effects of Shareholding of the National Pension Fund on Environmental, Social, Governance, and Financial Performance: Evidence from the Korean Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Philippe Dupuy & Jean-Charles Garibal, 2022. "Cross-dispersion bias-adjusted ESG rankings," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(7), pages 631-643, December.
    4. Naffa, Helena & Fain, Máté, 2022. "A factor approach to the performance of ESG leaders and laggards," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    5. Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & María del Carmen Valls Martínez, 2023. "Unraveling the relationship between betas and ESG scores through the Random Forests methodology," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(3), pages 1-29, September.
    6. Mustafa Hakan Eratalay & Ariana Paola Cortés Ángel, 2022. "The Impact of ESG Ratings on the Systemic Risk of European Blue-Chip Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-41, March.
    7. Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Gajdka, Jerzy & Pietraszewski, Piotr & Schabek, Tomasz, 2022. "Has the risk of socially responsible investments (SRI) companies stocks changed in the COVID-19 period? International evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    8. Mouncif Harabida & Bouchra Radi & Jean-Pierre Gueyie, 2022. "Socially Responsible Investment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Morocco, Egypt and Turkey," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(4), pages 1-65, April.
    9. Artur A. Trzebiński, 2022. "Assessing the performance of mutual funds with multifactor asset pricing models," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 53(1), pages 79-106.
    10. Hasan F. Baklaci & William I-Wei Cheng & Jianing Zhang, 2024. "Performance Attributes of Environmental, Social, and Governance Exchange-Traded Funds," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 31(2), pages 307-334, June.
    11. Guido Abate & Ignazio Basile & Pierpaolo Ferrari, 2021. "The level of sustainability and mutual fund performance in Europe: An empirical analysis using ESG ratings," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1446-1455, September.
    12. Ick Jin, 2023. "Probability of Achieving NDC and Implications for Climate Policy: CO-STIRPAT Approach," Journal of Economic Analysis, Anser Press, vol. 2(4), pages 82-97, June.
    13. Rehman, Mobeen Ur & Ahmad, Nasir & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Asymmetric multifractal behaviour and network connectedness between socially responsible stocks and international oil before and during COVID-19," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 587(C).
    14. Federica Ielasi & Monica Rossolini, 2019. "Responsible or Thematic? The True Nature of Sustainability-Themed Mutual Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Benjamin Hübel & Hendrik Scholz, 2020. "Integrating sustainability risks in asset management: the role of ESG exposures and ESG ratings," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(1), pages 52-69, February.
    16. Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Gajdka, Jerzy & Schabek, Tomasz, 2021. "How risky are the socially responsible investment (SRI) stocks? Evidence from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    17. Patel, Pankaj C. & Pearce, John A. & Oghazi, Pejvak, 2021. "Not so myopic: Investors lowering short-term growth expectations under high industry ESG-sales-related dynamism and predictability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 551-563.

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