Can corporate social performance mitigate the risk of extreme stock returns?

Abstract

It is commonly believed that there exists a strong negative association between corporate social performance (CSP) and firm risk.¹ To investigate the structure of this relationship, we decompose the dynamics of large U.S. company stock returns into two components: Gaussian and non-Gaussian innovations. Our findings indicate that CSP affects firm risk mainly through the non-Gaussian risk channel. In particular, it significantly reduces the magnitude of extreme returns. We find no consistent nor robust effect of CSP on the frequency of price boom and crash probability as it varies widely across industries. Last, we find no statistically significant impact of CSP on standard Gaussian volatility risk.