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Where's the greenium?

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  • Larcker, David F.
  • Watts, Edward M.

Abstract

In this study, we investigate whether investors are willing to trade off wealth for societal benefits. We take advantage of unique institutional features of the municipal securities market to provide insight into this question. Since 2013, states and other governmental entities have issued over $23 billion of green bonds to fund eco-friendly projects. Comparing green securities to nearly identical securities issued for non-green purposes by the same issuers on the same day, we observe economically identical pricing for green and non-green issues. In contrast to a number of recent theoretical and experimental studies, we find that in real market settings investors appear entirely unwilling to forgo wealth to invest in environmentally sustainable projects. When risk and payoffs are held constant and are known to investors ex-ante, investors view green and non-green securities by the same issuer as almost exact substitutes. Thus, the greenium is essentially zero.

Suggested Citation

  • Larcker, David F. & Watts, Edward M., 2020. "Where's the greenium?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:69:y:2020:i:2:s0165410120300148
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101312
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    4. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Banerjee, Ameet Kumar & Ghardallou, Wafa & Umar, Zaghum, 2022. "Is greenness an optimal hedge for sectoral stock indices?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Zenno, Yoshihiro & Aruga, Kentaka, 2023. "Investing the factors affecting green bond investments in China: Cases for Beijing and Shenzhen," MPRA Paper 116203, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sun, Yunpeng & Guan, Weimin & Cao, Yuning & Bao, Qun, 2022. "Role of green finance policy in renewable energy deployment for carbon neutrality: Evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 643-653.
    7. Li, Quan & Zhang, Kai & Wang, Li, 2022. "Where's the green bond premium? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    8. Hinsche, Isabelle Cathérine & Klump, Rainer, 2023. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is transitioning amongst them all?," CFS Working Paper Series 712, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    9. Xu, Guoquan & Lu, Nuotian & Tong, Yan, 2022. "Greenwashing and credit spread: Evidence from the Chinese green bond market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    10. Pietsch, Allegra & Salakhova, Dilyara, 2022. "Pricing of green bonds: drivers and dynamics of the greenium," Working Paper Series 2728, European Central Bank.
    11. Cheng, Stephanie F. & De Franco, Gus & Lin, Pengkai, 2023. "Marijuana liberalization and public finance: A capital market perspective on the passage of medical use laws," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    12. Huang, Chih-Yueh & Dekker, David & Christopoulos, Dimitrios, 2023. "Rethinking greenium: A quadratic function of yield spread," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    13. deHaan, Ed & Li, Jiacui & Watts, Edward M., 2023. "Retail bond investors and credit ratings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    14. Breckenfelder, Johannes & Maćkowiak, Bartosz & Marqués-Ibáñez, David & Olovsson, Conny & Popov, Alexander & Porcellacchia, Davide & Schepens, Glenn, 2023. "The climate and the economy," Working Paper Series 2793, European Central Bank.
    15. Pham, Linh & Cepni, Oguzhan, 2022. "Extreme directional spillovers between investor attention and green bond markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 186-210.
    16. Flammer, Caroline, 2021. "Corporate green bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 499-516.
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    18. Cheng, Ruijie & Gupta, Bhavya & Rajan, Ramkishen S., 2023. "Do green financial policies offset the climate transition risk penalty imposed on long-term sovereign bond yields?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. García, C. José & Herrero, Begoña & Miralles-Quirós, José Luis & del Mar Mirallles-Quirós, Maria, 2023. "Exploring the determinants of corporate green bond issuance and its environmental implication: The role of corporate board," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    20. Zhang, Ran & Li, Yanru & Liu, Yingzhu, 2021. "Green bond issuance and corporate cost of capital," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    21. Bhutta, Umair Saeed & Tariq, Adeel & Farrukh, Muhammad & Raza, Ali & Iqbal, Muhammad Khalid, 2022. "Green bonds for sustainable development: Review of literature on development and impact of green bonds," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental; Social and governance (ESG); Socially responsible investing (SRI); Municipal bonds; Green bonds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General

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