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SRI Funds: Nomen est Omen
Author(s) -
Kempf Alexander,
Osthoff Peer
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of business finance and accounting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.282
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1468-5957
pISSN - 0306-686X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2008.02107.x
Subject(s) - global assets under management , fund of funds , passive management , omen , portfolio , closed end fund , equity (law) , business , actuarial science , open end fund , commodity pool , finance , economics , institutional investor , corporate governance , political science , geography , law , market liquidity , archaeology
We test the frequently made claim that SRI funds are conventional funds in disguise. For this purpose, we compare the portfolio holdings of SRI funds to conventional funds with respect to their social and environmental standards. Our empirical study of US equity funds shows that SRI funds have a significantly higher ethical ranking than standard funds, i.e., they are not conventional funds in disguise. This result holds for all ethical criteria we investigate. It is stable over time and holds after controlling for several fund characteristics. Finally, we find no evidence that our result is generated by window dressing strategies of SRI funds.