Professional Education and Mutual Fund Voting on Environmental and Social Proposals
39 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2024 Last revised: 7 May 2024
Date Written: January 11, 2024
Abstract
We use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program’s growing focus on environmental and social (ES) issues to study the role of professional education on mutual fund voting. We find that CFA-designated managers show stronger support for ES proposals as the CFA curriculum increases focus on ES issues. ES support increases when a fund adds a CFA charterholder, and when a current manager earns a CFA charter. While we find evidence of strategic voting in social proposals, support for failed environmental proposals is informative of future ES risk. Broadly, professional education appears to provide analytical tools that influence manager voting.
Keywords: Professional education, CFA, Mutual funds, Environmental, Social, Sustainable investment
JEL Classification: G11, G23, J24, M14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation