The moral preferences of investors: Experimental evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bonnefon, Jean-Francois; Landier, Augustin; Sastry, Parinitha; Thesmar, David
• 署名单位: Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Paris; Columbia University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103955
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: portfolio choice; externalities; behavioral finance; ESG investing

摘要

We characterize investors' moral preferences in a parsimonious experimental setting, where we auction stocks with various ethical features. We find strong evidence that investors seek to align their investments with their social values (value alignment), and find no evidence of behavior driven by the social impact of investment decisions (impact-seeking preferences). First, the willingness to pay (WTP) fora stock is an increasing and quasi-linear function of corporate externalities. Second, this WTP does not change when corporate externalities are made contingent on investors buying the auctioned stock. Our results are thus compatible with a utility- maximization model where non-pecuniary benefits of firms' externalities only accrue through stock ownership, not through the actual impact of investment decisions. Finally, the ability to directly contribute to the externality (by donating) does not reduce the willingness to pay for virtuous stocks.