When does CSR payoff?

We investigate whether firms engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) can preserve firm value during normal and unprecedented exogenous adverse events. Our evidence shows, in regular times, a negative relation between CSR engagement and firm value, but under adverse economic conditions, CSR protects firm value by decreasing firm risks. We also find that firms with high managerial attributes engage in greater CSR activities that benefit shareholders in both normal and aberrant financial times. Despite the controversy surrounding CSR, our evidence points out that CSR can be viewed as a set of intangible assets that can improve firm value across good and bad economic states when firms are run by high-attribute managers.