Financial System Workshop “Decoding Sustainable Investment Strategies: Bridging Intentions and Actions”

Decoding Sustainable Investment Strategies: Bridging Intentions and Actions

Our study employs a novel machine-learning approach to uncover the underlying intentions driving U.S. mutual funds’ sustainable investment strategies. The identified intentions include financial value, categorical morality, and impact. While categorical morality is implemented via exclusion, impact is generated via active investment and engagement, and they each satisfy distinct nonpecuniary preferences. We find that the majority of funds labeled as “sustainable” prioritize enhancing financial value or adhering to categorical morality over generating impact. Notably, our method reveals the prevalence of hybrid funds, blending financial and moral objectives. This blended strategy amounts to rebalancing portfolios with high ESG-rated stocks to mitigate risk, while underweighting sin industries. Impact-driven funds, though less prevalent, exhibit distinctive management practices, actively engaging with portfolio companies and supporting social and environmental shareholder proposals. Our results underscore the negative correlation between financial and impact goals. These findings illuminate the need for clear classification labels to differentiate between ‘doing well and being good’ versus ‘doing good’. By clarifying fund sustainability objectives, our methodology enhances investor welfare by facilitating informed decision-making tailored to individual preferences. Understanding the heterogeneous underlying preferences of sustainable investors and the potential tension between them can in turn inform policy decisions, investment practices, and corporate behavior.

2024年5月15日（水）15:00 – 16:30 ※事前登録は不要です

東京大学経済学研究科学術交流棟（小島ホール）2階　
第３セミナー室
https://www.carf.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/access/#campusmap

Ayako Yasuda
Professor of Finance
Graduate School of Management
University of California, Davis

ワークショップの前後に、本WSに参加される予定の大学生、大学院生、学者、研究者の方を対象とした、保田教授とのミーティングを開催します。

— ミーティングスケジュール —

１回目　14:00 – 14:30
２回目　14:30 – 15:00

（15:00 – 16:30　ワークショップ）

３回目　16:30 – 17:00
４回目　17:00 – 17:30
５回目　17:30 – 18:00

各回30分
一人につき、１枠のみ申込可

ミーティング申込（外部サイト）