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Journal of Financial Economics
Article . 2025 . Peer-reviewed
License: CC BY NC ND
Data sources: Crossref
SSRN Electronic Journal
Article . 2021 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
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The Impact of Impact Investing

Authors: Jonathan B. Berk; Jules H. van Binsbergen;

The Impact of Impact Investing

Abstract

We evaluate the quantitative impact of ESG divestitures. For divestitures to have impact they must change the cost of capital of affected firms. We derive a simple expression for the change in the cost of capital as a function of three inputs: (1) the fraction of socially conscious capital, (2) the fraction of targeted firms in the economy and (3) the correlation between the targeted firms and the rest of the stock market. Given the current state of ESG investment we find that the impact on the cost of capital is too small to meaningfully affect real investment decisions. We empirically corroborate these small estimates by studying firm changes in ESG status. When firms are either included or excluded from the leading socially conscious US index (FTSE USA 4Good) we find no detectable effect on the cost of capital. We conclude that current ESG divesture strategies have had little impact and will likely have little impact in the future. Our results suggest that to have impact, instead of divesting, socially conscious investors should invest and exercise their rights of control to change corporate policy.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
66
Top 1%
Top 10%
Top 1%
hybrid