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Abstract:
This study adds new insights to the long-running corporate environmental-financial performance debate by focusing on the concept of eco-efficiency. Using a new database of eco-efficiency ratings, we analyze the relation between eco-efficiency and financial performance from 1997 to 2004. We report that eco-efficiency relates positively to operating performance and market value. Moreover, our results suggest that the market's valuation of environmental performance has been time variant, which may indicate that the market incorporates environmental information with a drift. Although environmental leaders initially did not sell at a premium relative to laggards, the valuation differential increased significantly over time. Our results have implications for company managers, who evidently do not have to overcome a tradeoff between eco-efficiency and financial performance, and for investors, who can exploit environmental information for investment decisions.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Eco-Efficiency, Shareholder value, Firm Value, Firm Operating Performance, Management Policies, Capital Markets

Abstract:
There exists a widespread consensus among mainstream academics and investors that socially responsible investing (SRI) leads to inferior, rather than superior, portfolio performance. Using Innovest's well-established corporate eco-efficiency scores, we provide evidence to the contrary. We compose two equity portfolios that differ in eco-efficiency characteristics and find that our high-ranked portfolio provided substantially higher average returns compared to its low-ranked counterpart over the period 1995-2003. Using a wide range of performance attribution techniques to address common methodological concerns, we show that this performance differential cannot be explained by differences in market sensitivity, investment style, or industry-specific components. We finally investigate whether this eco-efficiency premium puzzle withstands the inclusion of transaction costs scenarios, and evaluate how excess returns can be earned in a practical setting via a best-in-class stock selection strategy. The results remain significant under all levels of transactions costs, thus suggesting that the incremental benefits of SRI can be substantial.

Socially Responsible Investing, SRI, Corporate Environmental Performance, Eco-Efficiency, Performance Measurement, Style Analysis

Abstract:
We investigate persistence in the relative performance of 3,549 bond mutual funds from 1990 to 2003. We show that bond funds that display strong (weak) performance over a past period continue to do so in future periods. The out-of-sample difference in risk-adjusted return between the top and bottom decile of funds ranked on past alpha exceeds 3.5 percent per year. We demonstrate that a strategy based on past fund returns earns an economically and statistically significant abnormal return, suggesting that bond fund investors can exploit the observed persistence. Our results are robust to a wide range of model specifications and bootstrapped test statistics.

bond mutual funds, performance persistence, active management

Abstract:
We investigate persistence in the relative performance of 3,549 bond mutual funds from 1990 to 2003. We show that bond funds that display strong (weak) performance over a past period continue to do so in future periods. The out-of-sample difference in risk-adjusted return between the top and bottom decile of funds ranked on past alpha exceeds 3.5 percent per year. We demonstrate that a strategy based on past fund returns earns an economically and statistically significant abnormal return, suggesting that bond fund investors can exploit the observed persistence. Our results are robust to a wide range of model specifications and bootstrapped test statistics.

bond mutual funds, performance persistence, active management

Abstract:
Our study examines whether the short-term variation in the Japanese size and value premium is sufficiently predictable to be exploited by a timing strategy. In the spirit of Pesaran and Timmermann (1995), we employ a dynamic modeling approach in which we explicitly allow for permutations among the determinants in order to mitigate typical data-snooping biases. Using a base set of candidate predictor variables, we perform an in-sample estimation of all economically sensible models. Subsequently, a 'best' model is determined according to a selection criterion. However, whereas most studies use in-sample model selection criteria, we introduce an out-of-sample training period to select our models. We then implement our strategy in a second-stage out-of-sample period: the trading period. All stages re-occur on a monthly basis via a rolling window framework. The results confirm sufficient predictability under lower transaction cost levels. Under high transaction costs scenarios it is more difficult to obtain incremental benefits.

Size premium, value premium, recursive modeling, model selection, style switching, real time predictability

Abstract:
In this paper, we examine whether the short-term variation in the size and value premium in the Japanese stock market is sufficiently predictable to be exploited by a tactical timing strategy. In the spirit of Pesaran and Timmermann (1995), we employ a dynamic modeling approach in which we explicitly allow for permutations among the determinants in order to mitigate typical data-snooping biases. Using a base set of candidate regressors, we first perform an in-sample estimation of all economically sensible models in a rolling window framework. Subsequently, we generate out-of-sample forecasts for all models and evaluate the performance in a model training period. Model selection is based on three well-known selection criteria: hit ratio (% correct sign), the mean return of the strategy and the realized information ratio. We then implement our investment strategy in a second stage out-of-sample period: the trading period. The empirical results confirm sufficient predictability under low levels of transactions costs. Under higher transaction costs scenarios we find it difficult to obtain incremental benefits from style rotation strategies. Moreover, the results are entangled with the choice of forecast horizon and model selection procedure.

size premium, value premium, style rotation, recursive modeling, model selection

Abstract:
There exists a widespread consensus among mainstream academics and investors that socially responsible investing (SRI) leads to inferior, rather than superior, portfolio performance. Using Innovest’s well-established corporate ecoefficiency scores, we provide evidence to the contrary. We compose two equity portfolios that differ in eco-efficiency characteristics and find that our highranked portfolio provided substantially higher average returns compared to its low-ranked counterpart over the period 1995-2003. Using a wide range of performance attribution techniques to address common methodological concerns, we show that this performance differential cannot be explained by differences in market sensitivity, investment style, or industry-specific components. We finally investigate whether this eco-efficiency premium puzzle withstands the inclusion of transaction costs scenarios, and evaluate how excess returns can be earned in a practical setting via a best-in-class stock selection strategy. The results remain significant under all levels of transactions costs, thus suggesting that the incremental benefits of SRI can be substantial.

corporate environmental performance, eco-efficiency, performance measurement, socially responsible investing (SRI), style analysis

Abstract:
REITs exhibit a large and prevalent momentum effect that is not captured by conventional factor models. We show that this REIT momentum anomaly hampers proper judgments about the active management of REIT portfolios. By contrast, a REIT momentum factor provides incremental explanatory power to performance attribution models for REIT portfolios. Using this factor, we find that REIT momentum explains a great deal of the abnormal returns that actively managed REIT mutual funds earn in aggregate according to earlier related studies. Accounting for exposure to REIT momentum also materially influences cross-sectional comparisons of the performance of REIT mutual funds. Our results have important implications for performance evaluation, alpha-beta separation, and manager selection and compensation.

momentum, performance, mutual funds, REITs

Abstract:
The growing importance of SRI in the investment arena has resulted in considerable academic interest in the performance of socially responsible equity mutual funds. Remarkably, no attempts have been made to evaluate the performance of mutual funds that invest in socially responsible fixed-income securities. This study fills that gap by measuring the performance of socially responsible bond and balanced funds relative to matched samples of conventional funds, over the period 1987–2003. Using multi-index performance evaluation models, we show that the average SRI bond fund performed similar to conventional funds, while the average SRI balanced fund outperformed its conventional peers by more than 1.3% per year. The expenses charged by SRI funds, match those charged by conventional funds and, evidently, do not cause SRI funds to underperform.

Abstract:
The growing importance of SRI in the investment arena has resulted in considerable academic interest in the performance of socially responsible equity mutual funds. Remarkably, no attempts have been made to evaluate the performance of mutual funds that invest in socially responsible fixed-income securities. This study fills that gap by measuring the performance of socially responsible bond and balanced funds relative to matched samples of conventional funds, over the period 1987-2003. Using multi-index performance evaluation models, we show that the average SRI bond fund performed similar to conventional funds, while the average SRI balanced fund outperformed its conventional peers by more than 1.3% per year. The expenses charged by SRI funds, match those charged by conventional funds and, evidently, do not cause SRI funds to underperform.

Socially Responsible Investing, bonds, mutual funds, performance, SRI, ethical investing, sustainable investing

Abstract:
This paper investigates the relation between portfolio concentration and the performance of global equity funds. Concentrated funds with higher levels of tracking error display better performance than their more broadly diversified counterparts. We show that the observed relation between portfolio concentration and performance is mostly driven by the breadth of the underlying fund strategies; not just by fund managers’ willingness to take big bets. Our results indicate that when investors strive to select the best performing funds, they should not only consider fund managers’ tracking error levels. It is of greater importance that they take into account the extent to which fund managers carefully allocate their risk budget across multiple investment strategies and have concentrated holdings in multiple market segments simultaneously.

global fund performance, portfolio concentration, active management

Abstract:
This paper finds that common risk factors significantly underestimate the returns on corporate bonds with a short maturity. A substantial portion of short-term corporate bond returns is independent of risk premiums associated with market risk, term and default risk, yield curve dynamics, liquidity risk and premiums associated with macro-economic variables. Comparable evidence of the short-term corporate bond anomaly also shows up in portfolios of corporate bond mutual funds, indicating that the anomaly withstands important practical issues, such as short-selling restrictions, transaction costs, and illiquidity.

asset pricing, corporate bond returns, factor models, mutual funds

Abstract:
Consistent with the theory that human capital management influences organizational performance and risk, we find that employee relations explain the cross-sectional variation in credit risk. We construct an aggregate measure for the quality of employee relations based on the firm’s engagement in employment practices and policies, and document that firms with stronger employee relations enjoy a statistically and economically lower cost of debt financing, higher credit ratings, and lower firm-specific risk. These findings are robust to the inclusion of a comprehensive set of controls and to alternative explanations.

nonfinancial stakeholders, employee relations, cost of debt, credit ratings, idiosyncratic risk

Abstract:
Employees of liquidating firms are likely to lose income and non-pecuniary benefits of working for the firm, which makes bankruptcy costly for employees. This paper examines whether firms take these costs into account when deciding on the optimal amount of leverage. We find that firms with leading track records in employee well-being significantly reduce the probability of bankruptcy by operating with lower debt ratios. Moreover, we observe that firms with better employee track records have better credit ratings, even when we control for differences in firm leverage.

Employee well-being, Capital structure, Bankruptcy risk, Corporate social responsibility

Abstract:
REITs exhibit a strong and prevalent momentum effect that is not captured by conventional factor models. This REIT momentum anomaly hampers proper judgments about the performance of actively managed REIT portfolios. In contrast, a REIT momentum factor adds incremental explanatory power to performance attribution models for REIT portfolios. Using this factor, this study finds that REIT momentum explains a great deal of the abnormal returns that actively managed REIT mutual funds earn in aggregate. Accounting for exposure to REIT momentum also materially influences cross-sectional comparisons of the performances of REIT mutual funds. This study has important implications for performance evaluation, alpha-beta separation, and manager selection and compensation.

Alternative Investments, Real Estate, Equity Investments, Fundamental Analysis and Valuation Models, Performance Measurement and Evaluation, Performance Attribution, Portfolio Management, Equity Strategies

Abstract:
REITs exhibit a large and prevalent momentum effect that is not captured by conventional factor models. We show that this REIT momentum anomaly hampers proper judgments about the active management of REIT portfolios. By contrast, a REIT momentum factor and the factors from the Fama and French (1993) model jointly do a good job of describing the performance of REIT portfolios. Using this model, we find that REIT momentum explains a great deal of the abnormal returns that actively managed REIT mutual funds earn in aggregate according to earlier related studies. Accounting for exposure to REIT momentum also materially influences cross-sectional comparisons of the performance of REIT mutual funds.

momentum, performance, mutual funds, REITs

Abstract:
Does socially responsible investing (SRI) lead to inferior or superior portfolio performance? This study focused on the concept of eco-efficiency, which can be thought of as the economic value a company creates relative to the waste it generates, and found that SRI produced superior performance. Based on Innovest Strategic Value Advisors' corporate eco-efficiency scores, the study constructed and evaluated two equity portfolios that differed in eco-efficiency. The high-ranked portfolio provided substantially higher average returns than its low-ranked counterpart over the 1995-2003 period. This performance differential could not be explained by differences in market sensitivity, investment style, or industry-specific factors. Moreover, the results remained significant for all levels of transaction costs, suggesting that the incremental benefits of SRI can be substantial.

Portfolio Management, Equity Strategies, Performance Measurement and Evaluation, Performance Measurement, Corporate Governance