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Is Ethical Money Financially Smart?


Jenke Ter Horst


Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research (CentER)

Chendi Zhang


University of Warwick - Finance Group

Luc Renneboog


Tilburg University - Department of Finance; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC)

February 2006

ECGI - Finance Working Paper No. 117/2006
CentER Discussion Paper No. 2006-09

Abstract:     
Little is known about how investors select socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. Investors in SRI funds may care more about social or ethical issues in their investment decisions than about fund performance. This paper studies the money-flows into and out of the SRI funds around the world. We find that ethical money chases past returns. In contrast to conventional funds' investors, SRI investors care less about the funds' riskiness and fees. Funds characterized by shareholder activism and by in-house SRI research attract more stable investors. Membership of a large SRI fund family creates higher flow volatility due to the lower fees to reallocate money within the fund family. SRI funds receiving most of the money-inflows perform worse in the future, which is consistent with theories of decreasing returns to scale in the mutual fund industry. Finally, funds employing a higher number of SRI screens to model their investment universe receive larger money-inflows and perform better in the future than focused funds.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 52

Keywords: money-flows, ethical funds, socially responsible investing, persistence in performance, investment screens, corporate governance screens, SRI

JEL Classification: G10, G19

working papers series


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Date posted: February 28, 2006  

Suggested Citation

Ter Horst, Jenke R., Zhang, Chendi and Renneboog, Luc, Is Ethical Money Financially Smart? (February 2006). ECGI - Finance Working Paper No. 117/2006; CentER Discussion Paper No. 2006-09. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=887162 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.887162

Contact Information

Jenke R. Ter Horst
Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research (CentER) ( email )
P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands
Chendi Zhang (Contact Author)
University of Warwick - Finance Group ( email )
Coventry, CV4 7AL
Great Britain
Luc Renneboog
Tilburg University - Department of Finance ( email )
P.O. Box 90153
Warandelaan 2
5000 LE Tilburg
Netherlands
+13 31 466 8210 (Phone)
+13 31 466 2875 (Fax)
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
c/o ECARES ULB CP 114
B-1050 Brussels
Belgium
Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC)
Warandelaan 2
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


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