Is Davos more than a boondoggle?

Andreas Fuchs, Sebastian Leue and Andrew Rose

No 2288, Kiel Working Papers from Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel)

Abstract: Since 1971, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos has attracted the leadership of global corporations. Attendance may offer economic benefits through networking and political support or provide only private gains without measurable impact. Through creating a novel database of WEF attendees (2009-2018) matched with firm-level data, we analyze stock market performance, corporate ratings, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) scores. Regression results, including annual and daily event studies, suggest that WEF attendance does not systematically improve stock performance or credit ratings. However, WEF attendance positively impacts ESG scores, especially the social sub-score, indicating beneficial takeholder effects.

Keywords: World Economic Forum; international organizations; business leaders; stock markets; corporate ratings; summits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F53 G24 G32 G39 O19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/318195/1/1926366395.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Is Davos More Than a Boondoggle? (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:318195

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