What Is Behind the Financial Performance of Ethical Funds? A Study of the American Market

Effect of social screening on funds’ performance: empirical evidence of European equity funds

“…The results obtained in the regression analysis show that the differences in performance between SRI and conventional funds can be explained by differences in funds' size and management fees charged by fund managers. This fact has also been found in other empirical studies referring to other periods and geographical areas (Bauer et al, 2003;Bauer et al, 2005;Burlacu et al, 2007;Geczy, Stambaugh, & Levin, 2003).…”

“…To investigate the impact of the social factor on the financial performance of SRI funds relative to conventional funds (hypothesis H 1 ), this research proposes to estimate the following cross-sectional regression model, which controls the effects of some variables recognised in other former studies such as funds' age, size, management fee and turnover ratio (Burlacu et al, 2007):…”

“…Following this line of reasoning, the analysis turns to whether the investment policy applied by SRI funds is related to their financial performance so that the following null hypothesis is to be tested: H 2 : The type of screening applied by the fund manager is not related to the performance of the fund. This hypothesis has previously been analysed for the US fund market by Goldreyer and Diltz (1999), Barnett and Salomon (2006) and Burlacu, Girerd-Potin, and Dupré (2007). In the first two studies, there is evidence of a positive relationship between investment policy and performance of SRI funds (specifically when the fund applies positive screening), whereas in the study by Burlacu et al (2007), the authors find a negative relationship.…”

“…This hypothesis has previously been analysed for the US fund market by Goldreyer and Diltz (1999), Barnett and Salomon (2006) and Burlacu, Girerd-Potin, and Dupré (2007). In the first two studies, there is evidence of a positive relationship between investment policy and performance of SRI funds (specifically when the fund applies positive screening), whereas in the study by Burlacu et al (2007), the authors find a negative relationship.…”

Influence de la notation éthique sur l'évolution du prix des actions

“…Des résultats similaires sont obtenus sur le marché britannique (Luther et al [1992]), le marché australien (cummings [2000], Bauer et al [2006]), le marché canadien (Bauer et al [2003]). Des explications peuvent être avancées pour ces résultats surprenants, notamment le fait que certains fonds s'affichent éthiques sans changement notable de stratégie d'investissement par rapport à un fonds traditionnel (Burlacu et al [2007]). D'autre part, l'écart de performance n'est peut-être pas complètement capté par les études de comparaison de deux échantillons de fonds.…”