Are they any good at all? A financial and ethical analysis of socially responsible mutual funds

被引:47
作者
Utz S. [1 ]
Wimmer M. [2 ]
机构
[1] Department of Finance, University of Regensburg
[2] Department of Finance, University of Regensburg
关键词
ESG-scores; mutual funds; performance analysis; socially responsible investment;
D O I
10.1057/jam.2014.8
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
In this article, we examine a broad sample of socially responsible (SR) and conventional mutual funds with respect to financial and ethical parameters. We cannot document profound differences in their financial performance. With regard to ethical performance, we indeed find that an investor who seeks to avoid the least ethical of all available funds can do so by purchasing SR mutual funds. Still, we also demonstrate that SR mutual funds are not holding considerably more ethical assets on average. Moreover, the label 'SR mutual fund' does not in any way guarantee the exclusion of clearly unethical firms, which contrasts to the common perception of screening out poor assets. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
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页码:72 / 82
页数:10
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