讲座简介: | We identify a negative causal effect of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on short selling demand among overpriced stocks. Shorting overpriced stocks with high ESG scores exposes short sellers to three types of risk: 1) synchronization risk—long-side investors are reluctant to sell overpriced stocks with better ESG performance; 2) short squeeze risk associated with ESG sentiment—high ESG stocks experience positive sentiment-driven price jumps when public attention to ESG spikes; and 3) ESG reputation risk—short sellers who publicly disclose large positions on high ESG stocks may get a bad reputation. The resulting insufficiency in short demand has important implications for asset prices. |