IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v28y2019i1p244-255.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diversification benefits of using exchange‐traded funds in compliance to the sustainable development goals

Author

Listed:
  • José Luis Miralles‐Quirós
  • María Mar Miralles‐Quirós
  • José Manuel Nogueira

Abstract

Socially responsible investment has acquired a global dimension beyond moral values, which includes sustainability, risk management, and corporate social responsibility as the main elements. At the same time, from the launch of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included in the United Nations 2030 Agenda, with its 169 outcomes and 230 indicators, investors are being asked to contribute with their business activities, asset allocations, and investment decisions to solve some of the most urgent problems the world is facing (poverty, clean water, clean energy, decent work and economic growth, and climate action among others). The aim of our research is to analyze the benefits of adding SDGs exchange‐traded funds (ETFs) to a stock–bond portfolio and evaluate the out‐of‐sample performance of four strategies using the returns and volatility forecasts from a rolling sample approach. Our results show that it is possible for investors to obtain benefits from investing in ETFs, which track companies focused on contributing to the SDGs, especially those focused on decent work and economic growth and clear improvements in portfolio performance compared with the initial stock–bond portfolio. These findings are relevant not only for academics but also for active professional managers who can use this technique to add value to investment strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • José Luis Miralles‐Quirós & María Mar Miralles‐Quirós & José Manuel Nogueira, 2019. "Diversification benefits of using exchange‐traded funds in compliance to the sustainable development goals," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 244-255, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:28:y:2019:i:1:p:244-255
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2253
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2253
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2253?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Raman Uppal, 2009. "Optimal Versus Naive Diversification: How Inefficient is the 1-N Portfolio Strategy?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(5), pages 1915-1953, May.
    2. Hwang, Inchang & Xu, Simon & In, Francis, 2018. "Naive versus optimal diversification: Tail risk and performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 372-388.
    3. Peter Christoffersen & Vihang Errunza & Kris Jacobs & Hugues Langlois, 2012. "Is the Potential for International Diversification Disappearing? A Dynamic Copula Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3711-3751.
    4. Santos, André A.P. & Nogales, Francisco J. & Ruiz, Esther & Dijk, Dick Van, 2012. "Optimal portfolios with minimum capital requirements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1928-1942.
    5. Frazzini, Andrea & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2014. "Betting against beta," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 1-25.
    6. Humphrey, Jacquelyn E. & Benson, Karen L. & Low, Rand K.Y. & Lee, Wei-Lun, 2015. "Is diversification always optimal?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PB), pages 521-532.
    7. David J. Collison & George Cobb & David M. Power & Lorna A. Stevenson, 2008. "The financial performance of the FTSE4Good indices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 14-28, January.
    8. Joakim Sandberg & Carmen Juravle & Ted Hedesström & Ian Hamilton, 2009. "The Heterogeneity of Socially Responsible Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 519-533, July.
    9. Boubaker, Heni & Sghaier, Nadia, 2013. "Portfolio optimization in the presence of dependent financial returns with long memory: A copula based approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 361-377.
    10. Perego, Erica R. & Vermeulen, Wessel N., 2016. "Macro-economic determinants of European stock and government bond correlations: A tale of two regions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 214-232.
    11. Harris, Richard D.F. & Mazibas, Murat, 2013. "Dynamic hedge fund portfolio construction: A semi-parametric approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 139-149.
    12. Anderson, Robert M. & Bianchi, Stephen W. & Goldberg, Lisa R., 2012. "Will My Risk Parity Strategy Outperform?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt23t2s950, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    13. Yan, Lei & Garcia, Philip, 2017. "Portfolio investment: Are commodities useful?," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 43-55.
    14. Abagail McWilliams & Annaleena Parhankangas & Jason Coupet & Eric Welch & Darold T. Barnum, 2016. "Strategic Decision Making for the Triple Bottom Line," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 193-204, March.
    15. Cao, N. & Galvani, V. & Gubellini, S., 2017. "Firm-specific stock and bond predictability: New evidence from Canada," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 174-192.
    16. Max Goettsche & Tobias Steindl & Simon Gietl, 2016. "Do Customers Affect the Value Relevance of Sustainability Reporting? Empirical Evidence on Stakeholder Interdependence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 149-164, March.
    17. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    18. Cheung, C. Sherman & Miu, Peter, 2010. "Diversification benefits of commodity futures," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 451-474, December.
    19. Meyer, Thomas O. & Rose, Lawrence C., 2003. "The persistence of international diversification benefits before and during the Asian crisis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 217-242, July.
    20. Bessler, Wolfgang & Wolff, Dominik, 2015. "Do commodities add value in multi-asset portfolios? An out-of-sample analysis for different investment strategies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-20.
    21. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    22. Guidi, Francesco & Ugur, Mehmet, 2014. "An analysis of South-Eastern European stock markets: Evidence on cointegration and portfolio diversification benefits," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 119-136.
    23. Miralles-Marcelo, José Luis & Miralles-Quirós, María del Mar & Miralles-Quirós, José Luis, 2015. "Improving international diversification benefits for US investors," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 64-76.
    24. Maria del Mar Miralles‐Quiros & Jose Luis Miralles‐Quiros, 2017. "The role of time‐varying return forecasts for improving international diversification benefits," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 201-215, July.
    25. Sortino, Frank A., 2009. "The Sortino Framework for Constructing Portfolios," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780123749925.
    26. Chiou, Wan-Jiun Paul & Lee, Alice C. & Chang, Chiu-Chi A., 2009. "Do investors still benefit from international diversification with investment constraints?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 448-483, May.
    27. Gomes, Pedro & Taamouti, Abderrahim, 2016. "In search of the determinants of European asset market comovements," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 103-117.
    28. Chiou, Wan-Jiun Paul, 2009. "Benefits of international diversification with investment constraints: An over-time perspective," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 93-110, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zoe Warmate & Mohamed Khaled Eldaly & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2021. "Offering flexible working opportunities to people with mental disabilities: The missing link between sustainable development goals and financial implications," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1563-1579, May.
    2. Jakub Horak & Petr Suler & Jaroslav Kollmann & Jan Marecek, 2020. "Credit Absorption Capacity of Businesses in the Construction Sector of the Czech Republic—Analysis Based on the Difference in Values of EVA Entity and EVA Equity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-16, October.
    3. de Oliveira, Erick Meira & Cunha, Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza & Palazzi, Rafael Baptista & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus & Maçaira, Paula Medina, 2020. "On the effects of uncertainty measures on sustainability indices: An empirical investigation in a nonlinear framework," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Carmen‐Pilar Marti‐Ballester, 2020. "Examining the behavior of renewable‐energy fund investors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2624-2634, September.
    5. Martí-Ballester, Carmen-Pilar, 2022. "Do renewable energy mutual funds advance towards clean energy-related sustainable development goals?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1155-1164.
    6. Amr ElAlfy & Nicholas Palaschuk & Dina El-Bassiouny & Jeffrey Wilson & Olaf Weber, 2020. "Scoping the Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Research in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Carmen‐Pilar Marti‐Ballester, 2019. "The role of mutual funds in the sustainable energy sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1107-1120, September.
    8. Guillermo Badía & Maria C. Cortez & Luis Ferruz, 2020. "Socially responsible investing worldwide: Do markets value corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2751-2764, November.
    9. Simona Galletta & Sebastiano Mazzù, 2023. "ESG controversies and bank risk taking," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 274-288, January.
    10. Di Vaio, Assunta & Trujillo, Lourdes & D'Amore, Gabriella & Palladino, Rosa, 2021. "Water governance models for meeting sustainable development Goals:A structured literature review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Mariano Méndez-Suárez & Abel Monfort & Fernando Gallardo, 2020. "Sustainable Banking: New Forms of Investing under the Umbrella of the 2030 Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-13, March.
    12. Chiara Mio & Silvia Panfilo & Benedetta Blundo, 2020. "Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3220-3245, December.
    13. Azra Zaimovic & Adna Omanovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo, 2021. "How Many Stocks Are Sufficient for Equity Portfolio Diversification? A Review of the Literature," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-30, November.
    14. Amparo Soler‐Domínguez & Juan Carlos Matallín‐Sáez & Diego Víctor de Mingo‐López & Emili Tortosa‐Ausina, 2021. "Looking for sustainable development: Socially responsible mutual funds and the low‐carbon economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1751-1766, May.
    15. Tantawy Moussa & Amir Allam & Mahmoud Elmarzouky, 2022. "Global modern slavery and sustainable development goals: Does institutional environment quality matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2230-2244, July.
    16. José Luis Miralles-Quirós & María Mar Miralles-Quirós & José Manuel Nogueira, 2020. "Sustainable Development Goals and Investment Strategies: The Profitability of Using Five-Factor Fama-French Alphas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, February.
    17. Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza Cunha & Erick Meira de Oliveira & Renato J. Orsato & Marcelo Cabus Klotzle & Fernando Luiz Cyrino Oliveira & Rodrigo Goyannes Gusmão Caiado, 2020. "Can sustainable investments outperform traditional benchmarks? Evidence from global stock markets," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 682-697, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José Luis Miralles-Quirós & María Mar Miralles-Quirós & José Manuel Nogueira, 2020. "Sustainable Development Goals and Investment Strategies: The Profitability of Using Five-Factor Fama-French Alphas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Stadtmüller, Immo & Auer, Benjamin R. & Schuhmacher, Frank, 2022. "On the benefits of active stock selection strategies for diversified investors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 342-354.
    3. Duc Khuong Nguyen & Nikolas Topaloglou & Thomas Walther, 2020. "Asset Classes and Portfolio Diversification: Evidence from a Stochastic Spanning Approach," Working Papers 2020-009, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    4. Naqvi, Bushra & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Hasnaoui, Amir & Shao, Xuefeng, 2022. "Going beyond sustainability: The diversification benefits of green energy financial products," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Gilles Boevi Koumou, 2020. "Diversification and portfolio theory: a review," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 34(3), pages 267-312, September.
    6. José Luis Miralles-Quirós & María Mar Miralles-Quirós, 2020. "Who Knocks on the Door of Portfolio Performance Heaven: Sinner or Saint Investors?," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Miralles-Quirós, José Luis & Miralles-Quirós, María del Mar, 2017. "The Copula ADCC-GARCH model can help PIIGS to fly," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Gaete, Michael & Herrera, Rodrigo, 2023. "Diversification benefits of commodities in portfolio allocation: A dynamic factor copula approach," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    9. Thomas, Nisha Mary & Kashiramka, Smita & Yadav, Surendra Singh & Paul, Justin, 2022. "Role of emerging markets vis-à-vis frontier markets in improving portfolio diversification benefits," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 95-121.
    10. Wen, Xiaoqian & Nguyen, Duc Khuong, 2017. "Can investors of Chinese energy stocks benefit from diversification into commodity futures?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 184-200.
    11. Benjamin Hippert & André Uhde & Sascha Tobias Wengerek, 2019. "Portfolio benefits of adding corporate credit default swap indices: evidence from North America and Europe," Review of Derivatives Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 203-259, July.
    12. Erindi Allaj, 2020. "The Black–Litterman model and views from a reverse optimization procedure: an out-of-sample performance evaluation," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 465-492, October.
    13. Massimo Biasin & Roy Cerqueti & Emanuela Giacomini & Nicoletta Marinelli & Anna Grazia Quaranta & Luca Riccetti, 2019. "Macro Asset Allocation with Social Impact Investments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Bessler, Wolfgang & Wolff, Dominik, 2015. "Do commodities add value in multi-asset portfolios? An out-of-sample analysis for different investment strategies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-20.
    15. Gagnon, Marie-Hélène & Manseau, Guillaume & Power, Gabriel J., 2020. "They're back! Post-financialization diversification benefits of commodities," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Oikonomou, Ioannis & Platanakis, Emmanouil & Sutcliffe, Charles, 2018. "Socially responsible investment portfolios: Does the optimization process matter?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 379-401.
    17. Pu, Yingjian & Yang, Baochen, 2022. "The commodity futures' historical basis in trading strategy and portfolio investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Wolfgang Bessler & Georgi Taushanov & Dominik Wolff, 2021. "Factor investing and asset allocation strategies: a comparison of factor versus sector optimization," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(6), pages 488-506, October.
    19. Wolff, Dominik & Bessler, Wolfgang & Opfer, Heiko, 2012. "Multi-Asset Portfolio Optimization and Out-of-Sample Performance: An Evaluation of Black-Litterman, Mean Variance and Naïve Diversification Approaches," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62020, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Bilbao-Terol, Amelia & Arenas-Parra, Mar & Cañal-Fernández, Verónica, 2016. "A model based on Copula Theory for sustainable and social responsible investments," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 55-76.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:28:y:2019:i:1:p:244-255. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.