IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v65y2024ics1544612324005129.html

ESG factors and the cross-section of expected stock returns: A LASSO-based approach

Author

Listed:
  • Bang, Jeongseok
  • Ryu, Doojin

Abstract

We analyze high-dimensional factor data in the U.S. market to examine whether the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors help explain the cross-section of expected stock returns. To avoid omitted variable biases, we use the double-selection LASSO approach with more than 160 risk factors. ESG and environmental factors potentially explain the cross-section of stock returns and can also affect investors’ marginal utility.

Suggested Citation

  • Bang, Jeongseok & Ryu, Doojin, 2024. "ESG factors and the cross-section of expected stock returns: A LASSO-based approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:65:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324005129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.105482
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324005129
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105482?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guanhao Feng & Stefano Giglio & Dacheng Xiu, 2020. "Taming the Factor Zoo: A Test of New Factors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1327-1370, June.
    2. Naffa, Helena & Fain, Máté, 2022. "A factor approach to the performance of ESG leaders and laggards," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    3. Bang, Jeongseok & Ryu, Doojin & Webb, Robert I., 2023. "ESG controversy as a potential asset-pricing factor," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    4. Lewellen, Jonathan & Nagel, Stefan & Shanken, Jay, 2010. "A skeptical appraisal of asset pricing tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 175-194, May.
    5. Kempf, Alexander & Osthoff, Peer, 2007. "The effect of socially responsible investing on portfolio performance," CFR Working Papers 06-10, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio, 2018. "Fishing the Corporate Social Responsibility risk factors," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 25-48.
    7. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2015. "Editor's Choice Digesting Anomalies: An Investment Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 650-705.
    8. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2020. "Replicating Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 2019-2133.
    9. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 35(3), Autumn.
    10. Moinak Maiti, 2021. "Is ESG the succeeding risk factor?," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 199-213, July.
    11. Hakkon Kim & Kwangwoo Park & Doojin Ryu, 2017. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility: A Legal Origins Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 381-402, February.
    12. Florian Berg & Julian F Kölbel & Roberto Rigobon, 2022. "Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings [Corporate social responsibility and firm risk: theory and empirical evidence]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1315-1344.
    13. Pedersen, Lasse Heje & Fitzgibbons, Shaun & Pomorski, Lukasz, 2021. "Responsible investing: The ESG-efficient frontier," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 572-597.
    14. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2007. "The Effect of Socially Responsible Investing on Portfolio Performance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(5), pages 908-922, November.
    15. Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Chasing the ESG factor," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    16. Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio & Dam, Lammertjan, 2023. "The contributions of betas versus characteristics to the ESG premium," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 104-124.
    17. Bang, Jeongseok & Ryu, Doojin & Yu, Jinyoung, 2023. "ESG controversies and investor trading behavior in the Korean market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    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. Adil Haniev & Viktoriya V. Suhih, 2025. "Analysis of the Impact of ESG Initiatives on the Financial Performance of Shareholders in Russian Companies," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 24(1), pages 319-343.
    2. Chun, Dohyun & Cho, Hoon & Ryu, Doojin, 2025. "Volatility forecasting and volatility-timing strategies: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Kim, Yongwon & Park, Young Kyu & Ryu, Doojin, 2025. "Climate policy uncertainty and corporate environmental risk-taking," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. repec:rjr:romjef:v::y:2025:i:3:p:164-177 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. El Rhiouane, Afaf & Oukhouya, Hassan & Guerbaz, Raby & Belkhoutout, Khalid & Lmakri, Aziz & Fihri, Mohamed & El Afia, Abdellatif, 2025. "Integrating ESG criteria in portfolio optimization: A Moroccan case study using Markowitz’s theory and correlation network analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 667(C).
    6. Lashkaripour, Mohammadhossein, 2024. "Some stylized facts about bitcoin halving," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    7. Bang, Jeongseok & Kang, Yeonchan & Ryu, Doojin, 2024. "Potential pricing factors in the Korean market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    8. Shang, Zili & Yu, Bo & Lam, Keith S.K., 2025. "Does ESG explain stock returns? Evidence from Chinese stock markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    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. Rudkin, Wanling & Cai, Charlie X. & Zhou, You, 2025. "Can we enhance investment with ESG?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Bang, Jeongseok & Ryu, Doojin & Webb, Robert I., 2023. "ESG controversy as a potential asset-pricing factor," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    3. Ni, Yinan & Sun, Yanfei, 2023. "Environmental, social, and governance premium in Chinese stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. Vu, Thanh Nam & Lehkonen, Heikki & Junttila, Juha-Pekka & Lucey, Brian, 2025. "ESG investment performance and global attention to sustainability," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    5. Covachev, Svetoslav & Martel, Jocelyn & Brito-Ramos, Sofia, 2025. "Are ESG factors truly unique?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio & Dam, Lammertjan, 2023. "The contributions of betas versus characteristics to the ESG premium," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 104-124.
    7. Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Retail investor trading and ESG pricing in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Roy Cerqueti & Rocco Ciciretti & Ambrogio Dalò & Marco Nicolosi, 2022. "Mitigating Contagion Risk by ESG Investing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Díaz, Antonio & Esparcia, Carlos & Alonso, Daniel & Alonso, Maria-Teresa, 2024. "Portfolio management of ESG-labeled energy companies based on PTV and ESG factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    10. Alan Gregory & Julie Whittaker, 2013. "Exploring the Valuation of Corporate Social Responsibility—A Comparison of Research Methods," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Vu, Thanh Nam & Junttila, Juha-Pekka & Lehkonen, Heikki, 2024. "ESG news and long-run stock returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Esfandiar Maasoumi & Jianqiu Wang & Zhuo Wang & Ke Wu, 2024. "Identifying factors via automatic debiased machine learning," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 438-461, April.
    13. Lin, Qi, 2022. "Understanding idiosyncratic momentum in the Chinese stock market," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Alves, Rómulo & Krüger, Philipp & van Dijk, Mathijs, 2025. "Drawing up the bill: Are ESG ratings related to stock returns around the world?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Prodosh Eugene Simlai, 2025. "Non-Pecuniary Risk, ESG Ratings, and Expected Stock Returns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-24, August.
    16. Lestari, Jenjang Sri & Frömmel, Michael, 2024. "Socially responsible investments: doing good while doing well in developed versus emerging markets?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio, 2018. "Fishing the Corporate Social Responsibility risk factors," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 25-48.
    18. Federica Ielasi & Paolo Ceccherini & Pietro Zito, 2020. "Integrating ESG Analysis into Smart Beta Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    19. Janz, Catharina & Rilke, Rainer Michael & Burcin Yurtoglu, B., 2025. "Does ESG information impact individual investors’ portfolio choices?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    20. Leifhelm, Mathis & Klein, Christian & Scholz, Peter, 2025. "Sustainable yet similar: Challenging the performance and risk assumptions of sustainable market indices," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    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:eee:finlet:v:65:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324005129. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.