Does Sunlight Kill Germs? Stock Market Listing and Workplace Safety
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis forthcoming
54 Pages Posted: 15 Jul 2021 Last revised: 4 Apr 2022
Date Written: February 20, 2021
Abstract
This study highlights the positive impact of a stock market listing on workplace safety. We find that workplace injuries in publicly listed firms are lower than those in comparable private firms, and this effect relates to heightened monitoring by the media and regulators. The media pays more attention to public firms’ safety issues than to those of private firms, and the reduced media scrutiny due to local newspaper closures leads to greater increases in injuries in public firms. Regulators also monitor public firms more strictly, evidenced by a higher likelihood of nonroutine inspections and larger penalties for detected violations.
Keywords: workplace safety, stock market listing, private firms, ESG; OSHA
JEL Classification: J28, K32, G10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation