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Investing for Impact

Author

Listed:
  • Bhagwan Chowdhry
  • Shaun William Davies
  • Brian Waters

Abstract

We study joint financing between profit-motivated and socially motivated (impact) investors and derive conditions under which impact investments improve social outcomes. When project owners cannot commit to social objectives, impact investors hold financial claims to counterbalance owners’ tendencies to overemphasize profits. Impact investors’ ownership stakes are higher when the value of social output is higher, and pure nonprofit status may be optimal for the highest valued social projects. We provide guidance about the design of contingent social contracts, such as social impact bonds and social impact guarantees.Received May 23, 2016; editorial decision April 28, 2018 by Editor Francesca Cornelli. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhagwan Chowdhry & Shaun William Davies & Brian Waters, 2019. "Investing for Impact," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 864-904.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:32:y:2019:i:3:p:864-904.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhy068
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Eleonora Broccardo & Maria Mazzuca & Maria Laura Frigotto, 2020. "Social impact bonds: The evolution of research and a review of the academic literature," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1316-1332, May.
    2. Bing Yu & Shengxiong Wu & Mary Jane Lenard, 2022. "Do Ethical Companies Have High Stock Prices or High Returns?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Block, Joern H. & Hirschmann, Mirko & Fisch, Christian, 2021. "Which criteria matter when impact investors screen social enterprises?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Christian Gollier & Sébastien Pouget, 2022. "Investment Strategies and Corporate Behaviour with Socially Responsible Investors: A Theory of Active Ownership," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(356), pages 997-1023, October.
    5. Shome, Samik & Hassan, M. Kabir & Verma, Sushma & Panigrahi, Tushar Ranjan, 2023. "Impact investment for sustainable development: A bibliometric analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 770-800.
    6. Bernal, Oscar & Hudon, Marek & Ledru, François-Xavier, 2021. "Are impact and financial returns mutually exclusive? Evidence from publicly-listed impact investments," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 93-112.
    7. Alessandro Rizzello & Abdellah Kabli, 2020. "Sustainable Financial Partnerships for the SDGs: The Case of Social Impact Bonds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Peng, Hongfeng & Zhang, Zhenqi & Goodell, John W. & Li, Mingsheng, 2023. "Socially responsible investing: Is it for real or just for show?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Pierre Lavigne & Peter Tankov, 2023. "Decarbonization of financial markets: a mean-field game approach," Papers 2301.09163, arXiv.org.
    10. Yu-Hui Liao & Yeong-Jia Goo, 2019. "Do Higher Asymmetry Threshold Effects Exist on the Gold Return Volatility during Highly Fluctuating Periods?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Rodney Schmidt, 2023. "Are Business Ethics Effective? A Market Failures Approach to Impact Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(2), pages 505-524, May.
    12. Meg Adachi-Sato, 2021. "Socially Responsible Investment: Ex-ante Contracting or Ex-post Bargaining?," Discussion Paper Series DP2021-20, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Feb 2023.
    13. Reboredo, Juan C. & Otero, Luis A., 2021. "Are investors aware of climate-related transition risks? Evidence from mutual fund flows," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

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