Who Cares about Investing Responsibly? Attitudes and Financial Decisions

Alberto Montagnoli () and Karl Taylor
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Alberto Montagnoli: School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK

No 2024010, Working Papers from The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics

Abstract: The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we investigate the determinants of individual’s attitudes towards investing responsibly, based upon Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations. Secondly, we look at how important ESG considerations are, over and above socio-economic characteristics including financial literacy and risk attitudes, in explaining whether individuals hold shares and/or equity, and the amount invested in financial assets. Using the UK Financial Lives Survey data which is collected by the Financial Conduct Authority, our analysis reveals that, firstly, individual characteristics have little explanatory power in terms of explaining responsible investments, except for: education; gender; age; and financial literacy. Secondly, those individuals who are interested in future responsible invest- ments are approximately 7 percentage points more likely to hold shares/equity, and have around 77% more money invested in financial assets (i.e. just under twice the amount). We also undertake several sensitivity checks, including the role of selection on unobservables and the extent to which the exogeneity assumption regarding interest in future responsible investments can be relaxed, as well as matching estimation techniques to move beyond mere statistical associations.

Keywords: ESG Attitudes; Financial Literacy; Portfolio Investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 D81 G11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2024-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-env and nep-fle
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https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/research/serps First version, October 2024 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: Who Cares about Investing Responsibly? Attitudes and Financial Decisions (2024)
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