题目：In the Eyes of the Beholder: Shareholder Connection and ESG Rating Inflation
报告人：Yaqiong (Chelsea) Yao, Lancaster University
时间：2019年9月26日上午9:00 -10: 30
地点：博萃楼317会议室
报告摘要：Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings are becoming important assessment tools for corporations and are widely used by impact investors. However, little is known about their construction and objectiveness. We show that ESG ratings are prone to conflicts of interest. In particular, the ESG rating company tends to assign higher ratings to connected firms. For example, when an institutional investor such as mutual fund becomes a major shareholder of an ESG rating agency, this rating agency is likely to give significantly higher rating to other portfolio companies hold by the same institutional investor.
报告人简介：Yaqiong (Chelsea) Yao is an Associate Professor of Finance at Lancaster University Management School. She was Visiting Research Professor at New York University's Stern School of Business from March to August 2015. Her research interests lie in cross-sectional momentum, time-series momentum, contrarian, seasonality, profitability, sustainable investing, and institutional investors. She has been awarded Best Track Award in Risk Management by US Academy of Finance in 2017, Research Pump-Priming Grant by Lancaster University in 2014, Dean's Award for Research Excellence by the University of Melbourne in 2013, and American Finance Association Doctoral Travel Grant in 2012. She received her PhD in Finance from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and was a Visiting PhD Scholar at NYU Stern from January to July 2012.
代表性论文：
[1]Lim, B., Wang, J., Yao, Y. 2018, Time-Series Momentum in Nearly 100 Years of Stock Returns. Journal of Banking and Finance. 97, p. 283-296.
[2]Ji, X., Spencer Martin, J., Yao, Y. 2017, Macroeconomic risk and seasonality in momentum profits. Journal of Financial Markets. 36, p. 76-90.
[3]Brown, S.J., Sotes-Paladino, J., Wang, J., Yao, Y. 2017, Starting on the Wrong Foot: Seasonality in Mutual Fund Performance. Journal of Banking and Finance. 82, p. 133-150.
[4]Yao, Y. 2012, Momentum, contrarian, and the January seasonality. Journal of Banking and Finance. 36, p. 2757-2769.
