eCommons

 

How Does ESG Information Affect Stocks' Cost of Capital?

Other Titles

Author(s)

Abstract

I examine the causal effect of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) information on the cost of capital of U.S. stocks using a quasi-natural experiment. Exploiting the discontinuity in the mapping mechanism of a ESG score to a ESG rating, I conduct Regression Discontinuity Design tests around each ESG score threshold, comparing the ex-ante cost of capital of stocks with similar ESG scores but distinct ESG ratings. I find that a negative change in the ESG rating has a positive impact on the cost of capital of stocks on the highest-rating ESG stocks. The effect reversed for the lowest-rating ESG stocks. The finding is broadly coherent with the argument in the existing literature that high ESG stocks have lower expected returns, and further suggests a hump-shape relationship between ESG information and stock ex-ante cost of capital.

Journal / Series

Volume & Issue

Description

32 pages

Sponsorship

Date Issued

2023-08

Publisher

Keywords

Location

Effective Date

Expiration Date

Sector

Employer

Union

Union Local

NAICS

Number of Workers

Committee Chair

Ng, David

Committee Co-Chair

Committee Member

Turvey, Calum

Degree Discipline

Applied Economics and Management

Degree Name

M.S., Applied Economics and Management

Degree Level

Master of Science

Related Version

Related DOI

Related To

Related Part

Based on Related Item

Has Other Format(s)

Part of Related Item

Related To

Related Publication(s)

Link(s) to Related Publication(s)

References

Link(s) to Reference(s)

Previously Published As

Government Document

ISBN

ISMN

ISSN

Other Identifiers

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Types

dissertation or thesis

Accessibility Feature

Accessibility Hazard

Accessibility Summary

Link(s) to Catalog Record