IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/119677.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals

Author

Listed:
  • Daugaard, Dan
  • Kent, Danielle
  • Servátka, Maroš
  • Zhang, Le

Abstract

The global warming crisis is unlikely to abate while the world continues to collectively fund the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon divestment is urgently needed to ward off the impending climate emergency. Yet responsible investments still only account for a modest share of global assets. We conduct an incentivized artefactual field experiment to test whether framing divestment as a social norm, communicating it by a person with perceived credibility and expertise (a messenger), and highlighting optimistic attributes bolster responsible investment. Our subjects are investment professionals who have significant influence over the allocation of funds. We provide evidence that optimistic framing increases responsible investment. Assuming a comparable effect size, the observed increase would represent a $3.6 trillion USD global shift in asset allocations.

Suggested Citation

  • Daugaard, Dan & Kent, Danielle & Servátka, Maroš & Zhang, Le, 2023. "Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals," MPRA Paper 119677, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:119677
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119677/1/MPRA_paper_119677.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Daphne & Chen, Roy & Krupka, Erin, 2019. "Rhetoric matters: A social norms explanation for the anomaly of framing," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 158-178.
    2. Dan Daugaard, 2020. "Emerging new themes in environmental, social and governance investing: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1501-1530, June.
    3. Bateman, Hazel & Dobrescu, Loretti I. & Newell, Ben R. & Ortmann, Andreas & Thorp, Susan, 2016. "As easy as pie: How retirement savers use prescribed investment disclosures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 60-76.
    4. Noam Bergman, 2018. "Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Effects on Finance, Policy and Public Discourse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Yu‐Chin Hsiao & Simon Kemp & Maroš Servátka, 2020. "On the Importance of Context in Sequential Search," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(4), pages 1510-1530, April.
    6. Dufwenberg, Martin & Gächter, Simon & Hennig-Schmidt, Heike, 2011. "The framing of games and the psychology of play," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 459-478.
    7. Servtka, Maros, 2009. "Separating reputation, social influence, and identification effects in a dictator game," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 197-209, February.
    8. Elster, Jon, 1989. "Social Norms and Economic Theory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 99-117, Fall.
    9. Andrea Masini & E. Menichetti, 2012. "The impact of behavioural factors in the renewable energy investment decision making process: Conceptual framework and empirical findings," Post-Print hal-00651706, HAL.
    10. Elinor Ostrom, 2000. "Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 137-158, Summer.
    11. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    12. Ezra M. Markowitz & Azim F. Shariff, 2012. "Climate change and moral judgement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 243-247, April.
    13. Benson, Karen L. & Humphrey, Jacquelyn E., 2008. "Socially responsible investment funds: Investor reaction to current and past returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1850-1859, September.
    14. Kuhberger, Anton & Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Michael & Perner, Josef, 1999. "The Effects of Framing, Reflection, Probability, and Payoff on Risk Preference in Choice Tasks, ," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 204-231, June.
    15. Justin Ritchie & Hadi Dowlatabadi, 2015. "Divest from the Carbon Bubble? Reviewing the Implications and Limitations of Fossil Fuel Divestment for Institutional Investors," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 5, pages 59-80, May.
    16. Julie Ayling & Neil Gunningham, 2017. "Non-state governance and climate policy: the fossil fuel divestment movement," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 131-149, February.
    17. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    18. Georgia Piggot & Cleo Verkuijl & Harro van Asselt & Michael Lazarus, 2020. "Curbing fossil fuel supply to achieve climate goals," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 881-887, September.
    19. Michihiro Kandori, 1992. "Social Norms and Community Enforcement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(1), pages 63-80.
    20. Peter Erickson & Harro Asselt & Doug Koplow & Michael Lazarus & Peter Newell & Naomi Oreskes & Geoffrey Supran, 2020. "Why fossil fuel producer subsidies matter," Nature, Nature, vol. 578(7793), pages 1-4, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Schmidt, Robert J., 2019. "Do injunctive or descriptive social norms elicited using coordination games better explain social preferences?," Working Papers 0668, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    2. Kölle, Felix & Quercia, Simone, 2021. "The influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 691-703.
    3. A. Mantovani & O. Tarola & C. Vergari, 2014. "On the effect of social norms to reduce pollution," Working Papers wp950, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    4. Lane, Tom & Miller, Luis & Rodriguez, Isabel, 2024. "The normative permissiveness of political partyism," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Offiaeli, K. & Yaman, F., 2020. "Social Norms as a Cost-Effective Measure of Managing Transport Demand: Evidence from an Experiment on the London Underground," Working Papers 20/07, Department of Economics, City University London.
    6. G. Ceccantoni & O. Tarola & C. Vergari, 2017. "Relative tax in a vertically differentiated market: the key role of consumers in environment," Working Papers wp2005, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    7. D'Adda, Giovanna & Drouvelis, Michalis & Nosenzo, Daniele, 2016. "Norm elicitation in within-subject designs: Testing for order effects," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-7.
    8. Heinicke, Franziska & König-Kersting, Christian & Schmidt, Robert, 2022. "Injunctive vs. descriptive social norms and reference group dependence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 199-218.
    9. Barr, Abigail & Lane, Tom & Nosenzo, Daniele, 2018. "On the social inappropriateness of discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 153-164.
    10. Michalis Drouvelis & Adam Isen & Benjamin M. Marx, 2019. "The Bonus-Income Donation Norm," CESifo Working Paper Series 7961, CESifo.
    11. Di Falco, Salvatore & Sharma, Sindra, 2018. "Investing in Climate Change Adaptation: Motivations and Green Incentives in the Fiji Islands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 394-408.
    12. Guy Meunier & Ingmar Schumacher, 2020. "The importance of considering optimal government policy when social norms matter for the private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 630-655, June.
    13. Hallsworth, Michael & List, John A. & Metcalfe, Robert D. & Vlaev, Ivo, 2017. "The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 14-31.
    14. Kandul, Serhiy & Lanz, Bruno, 2021. "Public good provision, in-group cooperation and out-group descriptive norms: A lab experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Philippe Le Coent & Raphaële Preget & Sophie S. Thoyer, 2018. "Do farmers follow the herd? The influence of social norms in the participation to agri-environmental schemes," CEE-M Working Papers halshs-01936004, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    16. Reif, Christiane & Rübbelke, Dirk & Löschel, Andreas, 2014. "Improving voluntary public good provision by a non-governmental, endogenous matching mechanism: Experimental evidence," CAWM Discussion Papers 73, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    17. Eugen Dimant & Tobias Gesche, 2021. "Nudging Enforcers: How Norm Perceptions and Motives for Lying Shape Sanctions," CESifo Working Paper Series 9385, CESifo.
    18. Barron, Kai & Nurminen, Tuomas, 2020. "Nudging cooperation in public goods provision," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 88, pages 1-1.
    19. Feine, Gregor & Groh, Elke D. & von Loessl, Victor & Wetzel, Heike, 2023. "The double dividend of social information in charitable giving: Evidence from a framed field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. d'Adda, Giovanna & Dufwenberg, Martin & Passarelli, Francesco & Tabellini, Guido, 2020. "Social norms with private values: Theory and experiments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 288-304.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    experiment; ESG; responsible investment; optimism; framing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:119677. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.