Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Accounting and Finance
ISSN
1467-629X
Publisher
Wiley
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
44296
Abstract
We investigated whether and how firms’ toxic chemical releases (TCRs) affect idiosyncratic return volatility (IRV) using a prospect theory lens. Utilising a large sample of US public listed firms over the period 2001–2018, we find a significant and positive association between TCRs and IRV, suggesting that firms releasing more toxic chemicals have higher IRV. Additional analyses show that a positive association between TCR and IRV is more evident among firms with (i) high revenue, (ii) lower financial constraints and (iii) fewer environmental violations. A further test also suggests that a positive association between TCRs and IRV is contingent on political leadership ideology and market states. Our results remain consistent with weighted TCRs, IRV based on the Fama–French three-factor model, fixed-effect two-stage least square estimator (FE-2SLS), and other robustness checks. These findings shed light on the role of equity markets as a driver for capital-intensive pollution abatement activities and enhanced compliance with environmental laws, standards and best practices.
DOI
10.1111/acfi.12951
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Bahadar, S., Nadeem, M., & Zaman, R. (2023). Toxic chemical releases and idiosyncratic return volatility: A prospect theory perspective. Accounting & Finance, 63(2), 2109-2143.
https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12951