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Abstract: In this paper we analyze whether good corporate governance leads to higher common stock returns and enhances firm value in Europe. Throughout this study we use Deminor Corporate Governance Ratings for companies included in the FTSE Eurotop 300. Following the approach of Gompers, Ishii and Metrick (2003) we build portfolios consisting of well-governed and poorly governed companies and compare their performance. We also examine the impact of corporate governance on firm valuation. Our results show a positive relationship between these variables and corporate governance. This relationship weakens substantially after adjusting for country differences. Finally, we analyze the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance, as approximated by Net-Profit-Margin (NPM) and Return-on-Equity (ROE). Surprisingly, and contrary to Gompers, Ishii and Metrick (2003), we find a negative relationship between governance standards and these earnings based performance ratios for which we discuss possible implications.
corporate governance, financial performance, shareholder value, firm value, asset pricing
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 empirically analyze rational investors' optimal response to asset price bubbles. We define bubbles as a sudden acceleration of price growth beyond the growth in fundamental value given by an asset pricing model. Our new bubble detection method requires only a limited time-series of historical returns. We apply our method to US industries and find strong statistical and economic support for the riding bubbles hypothesis: when an investor detects a bubble, her optimal portfolio weight increases significantly. A dynamic riding bubble strategy that uses only real-time information earns abnormal annual returns of 3% to 8%.
bubbles, limits to arbitrage, market efficiency, structural breaks
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: The current theoretical literature makes contradicting predictions regarding the impact of an investor’s horizon on his optimal trading strategy in the presence of bubbles. We analyze this relation empirically using a Regime Switching Model to identify bubbles and crashes. We base our analysis on industry returns and find high positive returns after bubbles at the one-month horizon. At intermediate horizons of 2-4 months our findings are mixed, but thereafter, for horizons up to five years, returns following a bubble are again more positive than returns in the absence of a bubble. We compare a mean-variance as well as a downside-risk averse investor’s portfolio allocation in the presence and absence of a bubble. The weight allocated to the bubbly asset is higher for horizons up to 5 years. These findings suggest that even for a rather unsophisticated trader who does not follow daily market news, riding bubbles is a more profitable strategy than refraining from investing in the bubbly asset. Given the broad range of horizons during which riding bubbles is the optimal strategy, our results question the idea that bubbles are zero-sum games.
bubbles, limits-to-arbitrage, feedback, regime switching
Abstract: Stock market crashes are rare events. This complicates a thorough quantitative empirical analysis of crashes and their probable causes. We introduce the concept of an industry crash and study the presence of these crashes in 48 US industry indexes over the period 1926 to 2004. The concept of an industry crash enlarges the sample of crashes available for study substantially. This large sample of crashes allows us to test several theoretical hypotheses recently put forward in the literature on the relation between bubbles and crashes. Our empirical evidence shows that bubbles - periods of strong outperformance - double the likelihood of a crash. This relation is stronger for more severe crashes: for the twenty percent largest industry crashes the presence of a bubble triples the crash probability. Our results also confirm theoretical results that crashes are more likely when bubble growth is stronger, but that the time a bubble takes to develop seems unrelated to crash likelihood. Last but not least, we verify whether these results for industry crashes carry over to general stock market crashes using shorter time series of stock market indexes for 49 countries starting in 1969. We find that they do.
bubbles, crashes, skewness
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
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