Are red or blue companies more likely to go green? Politics and corporate social responsibility

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Di Giuli, Alberta; Kostovetsky, Leonard
• 署名单位: University of Rochester
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.10.002
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 158-180
• 关键词: corporate social responsibility; Corporate culture; POLITICS

摘要

Using the firm-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings of Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini, we find that firms score higher on CSR when they have Democratic rather than Republican founders, CEOs, and directors, and when they are headquartered in Democratic rather than Republican-leaning states. Democratic-leaning firms spend $20 million more on CSR than Republican-leaning firms ($80 million more within the sample of S&P 500 firms), or roughly 10% of net income. We find no evidence that firms recover these expenditures through increased sales. Indeed, increases in firm CSR ratings are associated with negative future stock returns and declines in firm ROA, suggesting that any benefits to stakeholders from social responsibility come at the direct expense of firm value. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.