This seminar is part of the SAFE Brown Bag Seminar Series, a seminar series for researchers affiliated with SAFE. Organized by the Leibniz Institute SAFE, the series provides an informal platform for presenting and discussing ongoing research and regularly features invited external speakers. The meeting takes place in the SAFE Common Room on Wednesday, 12 (noon) to 1 pm in the Common Room and online on Teams.
Speaker: Fatjon Kaja (Law Fin)
Kaja will present at the brown bag seminar (~30 min). Fatjon will present a paper titled “To B or not to B? An Event Study of B-Corp Certification”.
Abstract:
This study examines whether B-Corp certification, a voluntary accreditation from B Lab that recognizes firms that meet rigorous social and environmental standards, affects stock market performance. Applying a standard market-adjusted event study methodology to publicly traded B-Corp-certified firms between 2007 and 2024, I find no statistically significant market reaction to certification across any specification, benchmark, or robustness check. I consider three explanations for this null result: event date imprecision, investor self-selection, and the limited institutional authority of a nonprofit certifying body. I argue that the third is the most consequential.
If you have questions, feel free to contact Alessandro Gastaldello.
