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How do investors respond to Green Company Awards in China?

Author

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  • Lyon, Thomas
  • Lu, Yao
  • Shi, Xinzheng
  • Yin, Qie

Abstract

We find that firms winning Green Company Awards in China from 2008 to 2011 experienced on average insignificant and in some cases significantly negative effects on shareholder value. Various robustness checks suggest that these findings are not driven by the inefficiency of the Chinese stock market or a lack of perceived credibility of the award. In addition, we find important variation in the responses across firms: shareholders of firms in low-pollution industries and firms with primarily private ownership responded more negatively to award announcements. Furthermore, the peers of winning firms showed higher announcement returns than the award winners. Our results suggest that a key benefit of corporate environmentalism in China comes through building stronger relationships with government, and that otherwise the market generally discourages firms from environmental leadership.

Suggested Citation

  • Lyon, Thomas & Lu, Yao & Shi, Xinzheng & Yin, Qie, 2013. "How do investors respond to Green Company Awards in China?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:94:y:2013:i:c:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.06.020
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green Company Award; Corporate social responsibility; Shareholder value; Event study; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law

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