Grzeszne spółki: synteza 15 lat badań teoretycznych i empirycznych

Abstract

Sin stocks: A synthesis of 15 years of theoretical and empirical studies. In the narrowest sense, sin stocks are shares in companies engaged in the production of alcohol, tobacco, or gambling. Starting with the article by Hong and Kacperczyk (2009), they have been attracting an increasing interest from researchers. In this article, I attempt to synthesize recent theoretical and empirical work on morally controversial companies, by presenting (1) differences in the way sin stocks are defined, (2) work on estimating the sin stock premium, (3) determinants of propensity to invest in sin stocks, and (4) studies analysing selected cases in which sinful investments can be perceived differently. These could include (a) delegating investment decisions to fund managers who have behaved nobly in the past, (b) delegating decisions to algorithms, and (c) short-selling sin stocks. Additionally, I present several potential directions for researchers interested in sin stocks.