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Public Attention to Environmental Issues and Stock Market Returns

Author

Listed:
  • I. El Ouadghiri
  • K. Guesmi
  • Jonathan Peillex

    (CRIISEA - Centre de Recherche sur les Institutions, l'Industrie et les Systèmes Économiques d'Amiens - UR UPJV 3908 - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne)

  • A. Ziegler

    (HCL - Hospices Civils de Lyon)

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the effect of public attention to climate change and pollution on the weekly returns on US sustainability stock indices (i.e. the DJSI US and the FTSE4Good USA Index) in comparison to their conventional parent indices (i.e. the S&P 500 Index and the FTSE USA). In addition to unexpected global climate-related natural weather disasters, we consider two complementary measures of continuous public attention to these environmental issues: (i) US media attention to climate change and pollution and (ii) the US Google Search Volume Index for these two keywords. Robust to several sensitivity analyses, our econometric analysis for the period from 2004 to 2018 reveals that public attention to environmental issues has a significantly positive (negative) effect on the returns on US sustainability (conventional) stock indices. A possible explanation of this result is that high public attention to environmental issues may drive traditionally sustainable investors, neosustainable, and opportunistic self-interested investors to favor stocks of sustainable firms. The insights from our empirical study are important for private and institutional investors as well as public policy. \textcopyright 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Suggested Citation

  • I. El Ouadghiri & K. Guesmi & Jonathan Peillex & A. Ziegler, 2021. "Public Attention to Environmental Issues and Stock Market Returns," Post-Print hal-03678291, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03678291
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106836
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Peillex, Jonathan, 2023. "Réaction des investisseurs à la création de fonds éthiques [Investor reaction to the creation of ethical funds]," MPRA Paper 118930, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Timár, Barnabás, 2023. "A klímavédelmi események hatása a köztudatra és a tőkepiacra. Empirikus vizsgálat Google-trends- és ETF-adatokon [The impact of climate events on public perception and capital markets. An empirical," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 713-745.
    3. Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Mefteh-Wali, Salma & Viviani, Jean-Laurent & Ben Jabeur, Sami & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Lucey, Brian M., 2022. "How do climate risk and clean energy spillovers, and uncertainty affect U.S. stock markets?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    4. Goodell, John W. & Ben Jabeur, Sami & Saâdaoui, Foued & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2023. "Explainable artificial intelligence modeling to forecast bitcoin prices," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Zhou, Bo & Ding, Hao, 2023. "How public attention drives corporate environmental protection: Effects and channels," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    6. Saqib Aziz & Mahabubur Rahman & Dildar Hussain & Duc Nguyen, 2021. "Does corporate environmentalism affect corporate insolvency risk? The role of market power and competitive intensity," Post-Print hal-03344206, HAL.
    7. Wang, Jiqian & Li, Liang, 2023. "Climate risk and Chinese stock volatility forecasting: Evidence from ESG index," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    8. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Zhang, Hongwei, 2022. "Time-frequency spillovers among carbon, fossil energy and clean energy markets: The effects of attention to climate change," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Birindelli, Giuliana & Miazza, Aline & Paimanova, Viktoriia & Palea, Vera, 2023. "Just “blah blah blah”? Stock market expectations and reactions to COP26," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Clark, Ephraim & Lahiani, Amine & Mefteh-Wali, Salma, 2023. "Cryptocurrency return predictability: What is the role of the environment?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    11. Zhang, Si Ying, 2022. "Are investors sensitive to climate-related transition and physical risks? Evidence from global stock markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    12. Hassan, M. Kabir & Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Halim, Zairihan Abdul & Maroney, Neal & Rashid, Md. Mamunur, 2022. "Exploring the dynamic spillover of cryptocurrency environmental attention across the commodities, green bonds, and environment-related stocks," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Delâtre, Chloë, 2022. "Désinvestissement des combustibles fossiles: quelles conséquences pour la gestion de portefeuille ? [Fossil fuel divestment and portfolios implications]," MPRA Paper 114633, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Peillex, Jonathan, 2022. "Comment expliquer la décision de création d’un fond éthique ? [What explain the creation of ethical funds?]," MPRA Paper 115067, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Dwita Sakuntala & M. Shabri Abd. Majid & Aliasuddin Aliasuddin & Suriani Suriani, 2022. "Causality between Green Stock Market with Monetary Policy, Global Uncertainty, and Environmental Damage in Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 215-223, November.
    16. Liu, Haiyue & Wang, Yile & Shi, Xiaoshuang & Pang, Lina, 2022. "How do environmental policies affect capital market reactions? Evidence from China's construction waste treatment policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    17. Zheng, Yan & Wen, Fenghua & Deng, Hanshi & Zeng, Aiqing, 2022. "The relationship between carbon market attention and the EU CET market: Evidence from different market conditions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    18. Shahzad, Umer & Ghaemi Asl, Mahdi & Tedeschi, Marco, 2023. "Is there any market state-dependent contribution from Blockchain-enabled solutions to ESG investments? Evidence from conventional and Islamic ESG stocks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 139-154.
    19. Dong, Xiyong & Yoon, Seong-Min, 2023. "Effect of weather and environmental attentions on financial system risks: Evidence from Chinese high- and low-carbon assets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

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