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Latest News

Call for Papers: 2011 oikos PRI Young Scholars Finance Academy

January 23 – 28, 2011, Gais (Switzerland)

Download the Call for Papers

2010 PRI academic conference

April 2010 The annual academic conference took place in Copenhagen from 5 to 7 May 2010. The Danish Government presented 6 awards to papers of excellence that were presented at the conference. Click here to read about the awards. If you would like to review the conference papers and presentations, please visit the Conference website.

RI Digest

September 2010

Risk Management and ESG Integration


Risk Management and ESG Integration Welcome to the RI Digest, a monthly compendium published by the PRI Academic Network which profiles cutting edge research on responsible investment. This month, we address ESG integration as a form of risk management. As events this summer sparked by the BP oil spill have demonstrated, the relationship between ESG integration and risk management is a subject which is often misunderstood and at times very contentious. The articles reviewed this September, however, show that while there are a number of unanswered questions about how ESG factors should be measured and reported, there is evidence that ESG integration still has the potential to reduce portfolio risk. Suggestions of articles to be reviewed can be emailed to the RI Digest team, who will also be happy to answer any questions. Emails can be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

September reviews
Review 1: Corporate social responsibility can be an insurance policy against stock price decline Paul Godfrey Craig Merrill Jared Hansen Review of Godfrey, P. C., C. B. Merrill and J. M. Hansen. (2009) "The Relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis." Strategic Management Journal, 30 (4): 425-445. Review by Robert Kropp. Find the full length review here Read the full paper here
Review 2: Responsible investors bring eggs home in a better basket Andreas Hoepner Review of Hoepner, A. G. F. (2010) "Portfolio Diversification and Environmental, Social or Governance Criteria: Must Responsible Investments Really Be Poorly Diversified?" (Working Paper, School of Management, University of St. Andrews). Review by Robert Kropp. Find the full length review here Read the full paper here

Synopsis 1: Cost of equity capital is reduced by corporate social responsibility activities S.El Ghoul O. Guedhami Dev Mishra Review of El Ghoul, S., O. Guedhami, C. C. Y. Kwok and D. Mishra. (2010) "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Cost of Capital?" (Working Paper, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina). Review by Robert Kropp. Find the synopsis in full length here Read the full paper here

Synopsis 2: Does reduced risk of investing in corporate social responsibility lead to lower returns? Darren Lee Robert Faff Review of Lee, D. D. and R. W. Faff. (2009) "Corporate Sustainability Performance and Idiosyncratic Risk: A Global Perspective." The Financial Review, 44 (2): 213-237. Review by Robert Kropp. Find the synopsis in full length here Read the full paper here