<p>Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>) revisit the longstanding question of how corporate sustainability relates to financial performance and introduce inclusive wealth (IW)—a composite measure of produced, human, and natural capital—as a country-level moderator. Their study highlights the heterogeneity across countries and empirically documents that the association between sustainability and financial performance is positively moderated by IW. Below, I discuss how this study contributes to the literature, how prior analytical models help interpret the empirical findings, and several empirical caveats, as well as potential ways to address these concerns.</p><p>The most noteworthy contribution of this paper is the introduction of IW as a moderating factor in the sustainability–financial performance relationship. This adds to the growing empirical evidence that the financial implications of sustainability performance are contingent on the macro environment. Prior studies show, for instance, that abnormal returns to corporate sustainability performance depend on market sentiment (Naughton et al. <span>2018</span>), that the financial payoffs to corporate social responsibility are evident during the financial crisis (Lins et al. <span>2017</span>), and that socially responsible investing outperforms during economic booms but underperforms during recessions (Bansal et al. <span>2022</span>). By proposing IW as a moderator, Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>) add a novel construct that captures long-term resources and complements existing macro conditioning factors of the sustainability–financial performance relationship.</p><p>Analytical models suggest that the extent to which more sustainable firms deliver superior financial performance depends on the overall sustainability concerns and preferences in the market (Pedersen et al. <span>2020</span>; Pástor et al. <span>2021</span>). These analytical insights help interpret the different results for the return on assets (ROA) and Tobin's <i>Q</i> in Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>).</p><p>The association between sustainability performance and ROA can be read as reflecting customers' sustainability preferences. In economies with a high IW, especially those rich in natural capital, customers are more likely to favor sustainable products, hence raising the profitability of firms with superior sustainability performance. However, this does not apply to produced capital, which does not reflect customers' sustainability preferences and may even be negatively correlated with public sustainability awareness.</p><p>In comparison, the relationship between sustainability performance and Tobin's <i>Q</i> is more complex because market valuations aggregate several forces. A firm's share price not only reflects investors' sustainability preferences, but also the extent to which sustainability performance translates into profitability and the non-monetary utility investors derive from holding high sustainability firms. When IW im
Xie等人(2026)重新审视了企业可持续性如何与财务绩效相关的长期问题,并引入了包容性财富(IW)——生产资本、人力资本和自然资本的综合衡量标准——作为国家层面的调节因素。他们的研究强调了各国之间的异质性,并通过实证证明,可持续性和财务绩效之间的关系受到IW的积极调节。下面,我将讨论本研究对文献的贡献,先前的分析模型如何帮助解释实证结果,以及几个实证警告,以及解决这些问题的潜在方法。本文最值得注意的贡献是引入了IW作为可持续性-财务绩效关系的调节因素。这增加了越来越多的经验证据,表明可持续性绩效的财务影响取决于宏观环境。例如,先前的研究表明,企业可持续发展绩效的异常回报取决于市场情绪(Naughton et al. 2018),企业社会责任的财务回报在金融危机期间很明显(Lins et al. 2017),社会责任投资在经济繁荣期间表现优异,但在经济衰退期间表现不佳(Bansal et al. 2022)。通过提出IW作为调节因子,Xie等人(2026)增加了一个新的结构,该结构捕捉了长期资源,并补充了可持续性与财务绩效关系的现有宏观调节因素。分析模型表明,更具可持续性的公司提供卓越财务绩效的程度取决于市场对整体可持续性的关注和偏好(Pedersen et al. 2020; Pástor et al. 2021)。这些分析见解有助于解释Xie等人(2026)对资产收益率(ROA)和托宾Q的不同结果。可持续性绩效与ROA之间的关联可以理解为反映了客户的可持续性偏好。在IW高的经济体中,特别是那些自然资本丰富的经济体,消费者更倾向于可持续产品,从而提高了可持续发展绩效优异的公司的盈利能力。然而,这并不适用于生产资本,它不能反映客户的可持续发展偏好,甚至可能与公众的可持续发展意识负相关。相比之下,可持续性绩效与托宾Q之间的关系更为复杂,因为市场估值汇总了几种力量。公司的股价不仅反映了投资者的可持续性偏好,还反映了可持续性绩效转化为盈利能力的程度,以及投资者从持有高可持续性公司中获得的非货币效用。当IW改善时,这三种力量可能同时发生变化,从而使托宾Q的含义变得模糊。在这个意义上,Xie et al.(2026)的实证结果与宏观条件共同塑造经营和估值结果的观点是一致的。这些结果突出了IW调节作用的复杂性,值得在未来的研究中进一步探索。虽然Xie等人(2026)的实证设计非常适合记录跨国异质性,但有几个问题值得注意,以提高解释和促进推广。第一个问题与企业可持续发展绩效的衡量有关。这项研究依赖于穆迪(Moody’s)提供的可持续性评分。这就提出了一些关于国外市场信息劣势的问题(Chen et al. 2025),由于商业关系造成的评级偏差(Li et al. 2024),以及不同评级机构之间的分歧(例如,Chatterji et al. 2016; Berg et al. 2022)。由于数据收集和评分方法可能因语言和披露制度的不同而不同,因此评级的质量可能与IW的水平有系统的关联。因此,使用替代代理对公司可持续发展绩效进行额外的测试将有助于提高结果的稳健性和普遍性。第二个问题涉及到模型规范。使用具有随机效应的多水平模型对于估计国家水平的差异是有用的;然而,它依赖于未观察到的国家效应与回归量不相关的假设(Wooldridge 2010)。这种外生性假设在当前情况下可能不成立。如Xie et al.(2026)的图1和图2所示,国家特征与企业可持续性评级相关。此外,IW较高的国家可能拥有更发达的金融市场、更进步的社会规范和更规范的可持续性披露,这些都可以将可持续性与财务绩效之间的联系转向同一个方向。 因此,控制国家固定效应的额外测试,并将IW与其他国家级措施进行比较,可能有助于澄清IW的增量作用。最后一个需要进一步分析的领域是IW的不同组成部分及其相对于国内生产总值(GDP)的增量作用。如Managi等人(2024)所示,生产资本随时间的增长模式与GDP相似,人力资本增长更慢,而自然资本则减少。这些趋势表明,在调节企业可持续发展与财务绩效的关系中,每个组成部分及其不同的渠道扮演着不同的角色。自然资本可能反映公众对环境的关注,人力资本可能与社会规范进步相关,而生产资本可能捕获资源开发以促进经济增长。因此,进一步分解调节效应并检验其在控制GDP后的增量解释能力,将有助于理解不同的渠道和细微差别。综上所述,Xie等人(2026)通过强调IW如何制约企业可持续发展绩效的财务影响,做出了及时而有价值的贡献。他们的发现为未来的研究开辟了道路,以检验在追求可持续增长的过程中,更广泛的体系和私营部门之间微妙的相互依存关系,并提供相关的政策启示。
{"title":"Comment on “Inclusive Wealth and ESG Practices: Financial Impacts in a Global Context”","authors":"Yuxia Zou","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>) revisit the longstanding question of how corporate sustainability relates to financial performance and introduce inclusive wealth (IW)—a composite measure of produced, human, and natural capital—as a country-level moderator. Their study highlights the heterogeneity across countries and empirically documents that the association between sustainability and financial performance is positively moderated by IW. Below, I discuss how this study contributes to the literature, how prior analytical models help interpret the empirical findings, and several empirical caveats, as well as potential ways to address these concerns.</p><p>The most noteworthy contribution of this paper is the introduction of IW as a moderating factor in the sustainability–financial performance relationship. This adds to the growing empirical evidence that the financial implications of sustainability performance are contingent on the macro environment. Prior studies show, for instance, that abnormal returns to corporate sustainability performance depend on market sentiment (Naughton et al. <span>2018</span>), that the financial payoffs to corporate social responsibility are evident during the financial crisis (Lins et al. <span>2017</span>), and that socially responsible investing outperforms during economic booms but underperforms during recessions (Bansal et al. <span>2022</span>). By proposing IW as a moderator, Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>) add a novel construct that captures long-term resources and complements existing macro conditioning factors of the sustainability–financial performance relationship.</p><p>Analytical models suggest that the extent to which more sustainable firms deliver superior financial performance depends on the overall sustainability concerns and preferences in the market (Pedersen et al. <span>2020</span>; Pástor et al. <span>2021</span>). These analytical insights help interpret the different results for the return on assets (ROA) and Tobin's <i>Q</i> in Xie et al. (<span>2026</span>).</p><p>The association between sustainability performance and ROA can be read as reflecting customers' sustainability preferences. In economies with a high IW, especially those rich in natural capital, customers are more likely to favor sustainable products, hence raising the profitability of firms with superior sustainability performance. However, this does not apply to produced capital, which does not reflect customers' sustainability preferences and may even be negatively correlated with public sustainability awareness.</p><p>In comparison, the relationship between sustainability performance and Tobin's <i>Q</i> is more complex because market valuations aggregate several forces. A firm's share price not only reflects investors' sustainability preferences, but also the extent to which sustainability performance translates into profitability and the non-monetary utility investors derive from holding high sustainability firms. When IW im","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"39-40"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146002481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comment on “Green Human Capital and Carbon Emissions of Asian Firms”","authors":"Charika Channuntapipat","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"98-99"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
<p>Using data from the Chinese bond market, Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) provide evidence that the yield spread on straight bonds significantly decreases following a firm's issuance of green bonds. This effect is particularly pronounced for firms headquartered in cities where the local government reports frequently employ environment-related terminology. Zhan et al. further show that green bond issuance increases the likelihood of bond rating upgrades. By carefully constructing a control sample—matching existing straight bonds of green bond issuers with comparable straight bonds of non-issuers—Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) offer compelling evidence that green bond issuance helps mitigate firms' environmental regulatory risks.</p><p>Flammer (<span>2021</span>), a seminal study in green bond research, shows that firms experience positive stock price reactions upon issuing green bonds. Flammer interprets this as evidence that green bond issuance signals a commitment to environmental protection. However, the mechanism by which such commitments enhance firm value is not clearly identified. Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) advance the literature by clarifying the specific content of this signal. While both expected cash flows and risk affect stock prices, bond spreads are particularly sensitive to risk, given the fixed-claim nature of debt. Leveraging this feature, Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) demonstrate that green bond issuance conveys information about reduced firm risk. Their interpretation is reinforced by the finding that operating cash flows do not significantly change around green bond issuance. I also value this study for providing further evidence consistent with the view that socially responsible behavior lowers risk and reduces the cost of debt (e.g., Goss and Roberts <span>2011</span>).</p><p>However, the mechanism through which green bond issuance reduces the risk of straight bonds remains subject to debate. Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) argue that green bond issuance mitigates environmental regulatory risk, citing evidence that the effect is stronger for firms headquartered in cities where government reports frequently use environment-related terms. While the frequent use of such terms may indeed reflect heightened attention to environmental issues, it is not necessarily a direct indicator of regulatory risk, as the authors do not control for the presence of regulation-specific language. For example, cities may issue longer reports on environmental matters in response to rising public awareness, irrespective of the actual stringency or enforcement of regulations. In such cases, non-green bond issuers in these cities might face higher business risks from declining sales due to consumer concerns over supply-chain emissions, rather than green bond issuers experiencing a direct reduction in risk. Moreover, the frequency of environment-related words may correlate with other city-level characteristics (e.g., local GDP). For instance,
詹等人(2026)利用中国债券市场的数据提供了证据,证明企业发行绿色债券后,直接债券的收益率差显著下降。这种影响对于总部设在当地政府报告经常使用环境相关术语的城市的公司尤其明显。Zhan等人进一步表明,绿色债券的发行增加了债券评级上调的可能性。詹等人(2026)通过仔细构建对照样本——将绿色债券发行人的现有直接债券与非发行人的可比直接债券进行匹配——提供了令人信服的证据,证明绿色债券发行有助于减轻企业的环境监管风险。Flammer(2021)是绿色债券研究领域的一项开创性研究,表明企业在发行绿色债券后会经历积极的股价反应。弗拉默将此解释为绿色债券发行标志着对环境保护承诺的证据。然而,这种承诺提高企业价值的机制尚未明确。Zhan等人(2026)通过阐明该信号的具体内容,进一步完善了文献。虽然预期现金流和风险都会影响股价,但鉴于债务的固定债权性质,债券息差对风险尤为敏感。詹等人(2026)利用这一特征证明,绿色债券发行传达了企业风险降低的信息。在绿色债券发行前后,经营性现金流没有显著变化,这一发现强化了他们的解释。我也很重视这项研究,因为它提供了与社会责任行为降低风险和降低债务成本的观点一致的进一步证据(例如,Goss和Roberts 2011)。然而,绿色债券发行降低普通债券风险的机制仍存在争议。詹等人(2026)认为,绿色债券发行降低了环境监管风险,并引用证据表明,总部设在政府报告中经常使用环境相关术语的城市的公司,这种效果更强。虽然这些术语的频繁使用可能确实反映了对环境问题的高度关注,但它并不一定是监管风险的直接指标,因为作者没有控制监管特定语言的存在。例如,城市可能会发布较长的环境问题报告,以回应公众意识的提高,而不考虑法规的实际严格程度或执行情况。在这种情况下,这些城市的非绿色债券发行人可能会因消费者对供应链排放的担忧而面临更高的销售下降的商业风险,而不是绿色债券发行人的风险直接降低。此外,环境相关词汇的出现频率可能与其他城市层面的特征(如当地GDP)相关。例如,公民在国际上接触环境政策严格的国家,可能与债券息差较低以及城市报告中更频繁地使用环境术语有关。我也担心詹等人(2026)发现的普遍性。Zhan等人从样本中排除了非国有企业(non-SOEs),这提高了结果仅针对中国国有企业的可能性。这种排除似乎是由于只有两家非国有企业发行了绿色债券(Zhan et al. 2026,表S1),这限制了将它们纳入分析的可行性。然而,这一事实本身可能表明,政治关系是在中国发行绿色债券的先决条件。因此,对他们的结果的另一种解释是,绿色债券的发行表明了强大的政治联系,这反过来降低了公司债券的违约风险。詹等人(2026)发现,流动性越强的债券,绿色债券发行对收益率息差的影响越强。他们将这一结果解释为反对绿色债券发行通过提高流动性缩小利差的观点的证据。然而,另一种解释是,流动性较差的资产的价格吸收新信息的速度较慢,这可能会减弱观察到的效应。为了加强他们的论点,我想看看绿色债券发行后流动性措施是否有所改善。詹等人(2026)表6报告绿色债券发行后现金流量没有显著增加。然而,我担心这种不显著的治疗效果可能源于纳入盈利能力(ROA)作为控制变量。由于ROA与经营业绩高度相关,绿色债券发行后经营性现金流的任何变化都可能被ROA控制所吸收。此外,考虑到环境投资的长期性,绿色债券发行对现金流的影响只有在滞后的情况下才能实现,这似乎是合理的。尽管我有一些顾虑,但我承认詹等人。 (2026)对越来越多的关于绿色债券的文献做出了重要贡献。他们的研究引入了一种创新的方法,通过检验绿色债券发行对同一家公司现有的直接债券的影响。实证分析是仔细执行的,并提供了有说服力的证据,证明绿色债券发行降低了企业风险。
{"title":"Comment on “Beyond Green: Impacts of Green Bond Issuance on Conventional Bonds in China”","authors":"Konari Uchida","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using data from the Chinese bond market, Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) provide evidence that the yield spread on straight bonds significantly decreases following a firm's issuance of green bonds. This effect is particularly pronounced for firms headquartered in cities where the local government reports frequently employ environment-related terminology. Zhan et al. further show that green bond issuance increases the likelihood of bond rating upgrades. By carefully constructing a control sample—matching existing straight bonds of green bond issuers with comparable straight bonds of non-issuers—Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) offer compelling evidence that green bond issuance helps mitigate firms' environmental regulatory risks.</p><p>Flammer (<span>2021</span>), a seminal study in green bond research, shows that firms experience positive stock price reactions upon issuing green bonds. Flammer interprets this as evidence that green bond issuance signals a commitment to environmental protection. However, the mechanism by which such commitments enhance firm value is not clearly identified. Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) advance the literature by clarifying the specific content of this signal. While both expected cash flows and risk affect stock prices, bond spreads are particularly sensitive to risk, given the fixed-claim nature of debt. Leveraging this feature, Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) demonstrate that green bond issuance conveys information about reduced firm risk. Their interpretation is reinforced by the finding that operating cash flows do not significantly change around green bond issuance. I also value this study for providing further evidence consistent with the view that socially responsible behavior lowers risk and reduces the cost of debt (e.g., Goss and Roberts <span>2011</span>).</p><p>However, the mechanism through which green bond issuance reduces the risk of straight bonds remains subject to debate. Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) argue that green bond issuance mitigates environmental regulatory risk, citing evidence that the effect is stronger for firms headquartered in cities where government reports frequently use environment-related terms. While the frequent use of such terms may indeed reflect heightened attention to environmental issues, it is not necessarily a direct indicator of regulatory risk, as the authors do not control for the presence of regulation-specific language. For example, cities may issue longer reports on environmental matters in response to rising public awareness, irrespective of the actual stringency or enforcement of regulations. In such cases, non-green bond issuers in these cities might face higher business risks from declining sales due to consumer concerns over supply-chain emissions, rather than green bond issuers experiencing a direct reduction in risk. Moreover, the frequency of environment-related words may correlate with other city-level characteristics (e.g., local GDP). For instance, ","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"85-86"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Seiwan Kim, Resi Ong Olivares, Donghyun Park, Shu (Grace) Tian, Sunjoo Yang
This study examines how sovereign sustainable bond issuance affects the yields and liquidity of corporate sustainable bonds in eight Asian markets. Using panel vector autoregression (VAR) and daily data from 2018 to 2024, we find that initial sovereign sustainable bond issuance improves corporate sustainable bond liquidity and reduces yield spreads in the medium term. We further find that this reduction is primarily driven by a persistent decline in greenium rather than a lower risk premium. Corporate sustainable bond issuance rises post-sovereign issuance, with more diverse issuers entering the market. Additionally, fund flows into ESG mutual funds increase, reflecting stronger demand for sustainable assets. Our findings highlight the positive role of sovereign issuance in scaling up private sustainable finance.
{"title":"How Sovereign Sustainable Bond Issuance Shakes Up the Corporate Sustainable Bond Market?: Evidence From Asian Markets","authors":"Seiwan Kim, Resi Ong Olivares, Donghyun Park, Shu (Grace) Tian, Sunjoo Yang","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines how sovereign sustainable bond issuance affects the yields and liquidity of corporate sustainable bonds in eight Asian markets. Using panel vector autoregression (VAR) and daily data from 2018 to 2024, we find that initial sovereign sustainable bond issuance improves corporate sustainable bond liquidity and reduces yield spreads in the medium term. We further find that this reduction is primarily driven by a persistent decline in greenium rather than a lower risk premium. Corporate sustainable bond issuance rises post-sovereign issuance, with more diverse issuers entering the market. Additionally, fund flows into ESG mutual funds increase, reflecting stronger demand for sustainable assets. Our findings highlight the positive role of sovereign issuance in scaling up private sustainable finance.</p><p><b>JEL Classification:</b> G12, C33, E43, Q54.</p>","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"57-67"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}