Financial Performance of Government Bond Portfolios Based on Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria

Guillermo Badía, Vicente Pina and Lourdes Torres
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Guillermo Badía: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain
Vicente Pina: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain
Lourdes Torres: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: We evaluated the financial performance of government bond portfolios formed according to socially responsible investment (SRI) criteria. We thus open a discussion on the financial performance of SRI for government bonds. Our sample includes 24 countries over the period of June 2006 to December 2017. Using various financial performance measures, the results suggest that high-rated government bonds, according to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions, outperform low-ranked bonds under any cut-off, although differences are not statistically significant. These findings suggest that ESG screenings can be used for government bonds without sacrificing financial performance.

Keywords: socially responsible investments; government bonds; international finance; performance evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:9:p:2514-:d:227224

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