ESG Research Overload? Über 40 aktuelle Researchbeiträge zu den Themen Biodiversität, ESG und Klimadaten und Maße, „Humanressourcen“, Impact, Engagement, Voting, Finanzskandalen und Unmoralität, Heuschrecken und Ethik.
ESG Research Overload? Hier sind über 40 interessante aktuelle Researchbeiträge zu den Themen Biodiversität, Klimadaten und ESG-Maßen, „Humanressourcen“, Impact, Engagement, Voting, Finanzskandalen und Unmoral, Heuschrecken und Ethik.
ESG Research Overload und Umfeld: Biodiversität, Biomaterial und Energiethemen
Hohe Anti-Biodiversitäts-Subventionen: Finance & Biodiversity – Time to focus on the Trillions already in play auf Planet Tracker vom 18. September 2020: “total annual public and private funding supporting biodiversity conservation is outstripped by harmful subsidies in agriculture, forestry and fisheries by between 3.5x to 6.4x”.
Finanzierung von Biodiversität: Financing Nature: Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing Gap vom Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy und Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability vom 17. September 2020: “Widespread land conversion for infrastructure, agriculture and other development, and overexploitation of natural resources are being driven by political leaders’ prioritization of short-term economic gains and the inability of our economic systems and financial markets to appropriately value and protect our natural capital. To slow and stop the global loss of biodiversity, we must fundamentally rethink our relationship with nature and transform our economic models and market systems. The policy and economic actions needed to achieve this require considerable political will, broad public support, and substantial investment. This will not happen overnight and, in the short to medium term, there is an urgent need to scale up finance for nature” (S. 4).
Biodiversitäts-Tools und Tipps: Investor action on biodiversity: Discussion paper der Principles for Responsible Investments vom ersten September enthält u.a. eine “selection of tools for understanding biodervisity risk” (S. 37-39), “examples of individual engagement activities” (S. 40-42), “measurement approaches” (S. 43/44).
Biomaterial mit Risiken: Are bioplastics and plant-based materials safer than conventional plastics? In vitro toxicity and chemical composition von Lisa Zimmermann, Andrea Dombrowski, Carolin Völker und Martin Wagner vom 17. September 2020: “Our results indicate that the majority (67%) of bioplastics and plant-based products contain toxic chemicals as well as a large number and diversity of compounds (>1000 chemical features each in 80% of the samples). … bio-based and/or biodegradable materials available on the market are just as toxic as conventional plastics with regards to the chemicals they contain. … safer products are already at the market that can be used as best practice examples. Additionally, the chemical safety of materials can be further optimized using green chemistry to “design out” toxicity during the development of new bio-based and biodegradable materials. Besides these human health aspects, the carbon, energy, water and land footprints need to be minimized to create truly better plastics or plastic alternatives and avoid regrettable substitutions”.
Enorme Technologievielfalt und Kostensenkungen bei Batterien: Innovation in batteries and electricity storage – A global analysis based on patent data von der International Energy Agency vom September 2020: More than 7 000 international patent families (IPFs) related to electricity storage were published in 2018, up from 1 029 in 2000” (S. 4). … “For electric vehicles, Li-ion prices have decreased by almost 90% since 2010, while for stationary applications, including electricity grid management, they have dropped by around two-thirds over the same period. These cost reductions are partly due to new chemistries, mostly adjustments to the composition of the battery cathode, as well as economies of scale in manufacturing” (S. 5).
Carbon Capture is wichtig: Energy Technology Perspectives: Special Report on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage CCUS in clean energy transitions von der International Energy Agency vom September 2020: “Alongside electrification, hydrogen and sustainable bioenergy, CCUS will need to play a major role. It is the only group of technologies that contributes both to reducing emissions in key sectors directly and to removing CO2 to balance emissions that cannot be avoided – a critical part of “net” zero goals. … Plans for more than 30 commercial facilities have been announced in the last three years. And projects now nearing a final investment decision represent an estimated potential investment of around USD 27 billion – more than double the investment planned in 2017. This portfolio of projects is increasingly diverse – including power generation, cement and hydrogen facilities, and industrial hubs – and would double the level of CO2 captured globally, from around 40 million tonnes today. … CCUS is virtually the only technology solution for deep emissions reductions from cement production. It is also the most cost-effective approach in many regions to curb emissions in iron and steel and chemicals manufacturing. Captured CO2 is a critical part of the supply chain for synthetic fuels from CO2 and hydrogen – one of a limited number of low-carbon options for long-distance transport, particularly aviation” (S. 13/14).
ESG Research Overload und Messungen und Tools
Nichtfinanzielle Daten sind sehr wichtig: Expectations and the Role of Intangible Investments von Michael Mauboussin und Dan Callahan von Morgan Stanley Investment Management vom 15. September 2020: “Earnings are deemed to be “the single most important output of financial reporting.” It used to be that earnings were on the income statement and investments were recorded mostly on the balance sheet. The rise of intangible investments means that the bottom line is now a mix of earnings and investment. … Earnings are less relevant for value today than in the past. This is because of the rise of intangibles and the increase in non-recurring, or ancillary, items reported in earnings. We focus on the former, but investors seeking to understand value must thoughtfully deal with both” (S. 16). Mein Kommentar: ESG-Daten werden stark kritisiert, aber traditionelle Finanzdaten alleine können viele Entwicklungen nicht befriedigend erklären. ESG-Ratings können Intangibles tangliber machen.
Sind (manche) ESG Scores stark Länder-, Branchen- und Kapitalisierungsabhängig? ESG scores and beyond (Part 1) Factor control: Isolating specific biases in ESG ratings von Kevin Ratsimiveh, Patrick Hubert, Valéry Lucas-Leclin und Emeric Nicolas von FTSE Russell vom 7. Juli 2020: “Based on the FTSE Russell ESG scores, which cover nearly 4,700 companies, this report provides … a deep analysis of the three external factors (or biases)—size, activity and country—that historically may have (strongly) influenced the ESG assessment of companies” (S. 3).
Menschenrechte messbar machen – Eine umfassende Zusammenstellung quantitativer Menschenrechtsindikatoren für Unternehmen, econsense Diskussionspapier 2020: „Mit dieser Veröffentlichung legt econsense eine Zusammenstellung von quantitativen Menschenrechtsindikatoren für Unternehmen vor. Diese Liste basiert auf Indikatoren von etablierten und anerkannten Institutionen“ (S. 3).
55 Maße für nachhaltige Wertschöpfung: Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation vom World Economic Forum vom 22. September 2020: “Core metrics: A set of 21 more-established or critically important metrics and disclosures. These are primarily quantitative metrics for which information is already being reported by many firms (albeit often in different formats) or can be obtained with reasonable effort. They focus primarily on activities within an organization’s own boundaries. Expanded metrics: A set of 34 metrics and disclosures that tend to be less well-established in existing practice and standards and have a wider value chain scope or convey impact in a more sophisticated or tangible way, such as in monetary terms. They represent a more advanced way of measuring and communicating sustainable value creation”.
Diverse Umweltrisikoanalysetools: Overview of Environmental Risk Analysis by Financial Institutions vom Network for Greening the Financial System Technical document vom September 2020: “environmental risks (encompassing both environment- and climate-related risks) have not yet been explicitly recognized and effectively addressed by many financial institutions. … This NGFS publication, Overview of Environmental Risk Analysis (ERA) by Financial Institutions, provides an extensive list of examples of how environmental risks are transmitted to financial risks, and a comprehensive review of the tools and methodologies for ERA used by financial institutions (FIs) including banks, asset managers and insurance companies” (S. 3).
Klimatools und Klimadaten: Charting a New Climate – State-of-the-art tools and data for banks to assess credit risks and opportunities from physical climate change impacts TCFD Banking Pilot Project Phase II vom September 2020: “This report describes the outputs of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Phase II banking pilot which lays out state-of-the-art tools and data for assessment of physical climate-related risks and opportunities by banks. The Phase II pilot, involving 39 UNEP FI member banks from six continents, focused on addressing key methodological challenges highlighted in its predecessor Phase I report, ‘Navigating a New Climate’” (S. 1).
Noch viel zu tun bei der Klimaanalyse: Climate change analysis in the investment process von Matt Orsagh vom CFA Research Institute vom 21. September 2020: “This report aims to help improve knowledge and understanding about how climate risk can be applied to financial analysis and portfolio management. It then informs practitioners how best to incorporate these analyses into their investment processes, based on case studies of firms that are currently integrating climate-related analysis into their investment models” (S. 1).
Komplexes Carbonrisiko: Measuring and Managing Carbon Risk in Investment Portfolios von Theo Roncalli, Theo Le Guenedal, Frederic Lepetit und Takaya Sekine von Amunid vom 26. August 2020: “the primary task is to develop a brown-minus-green (or BMG) risk factor, similar to Fama and French (1992). Secondly, we must estimate the carbon beta using a multi-factor model. While Goergen et al. (2019) considered that the carbon beta is constant, we propose a timevarying estimation model to assess the dynamics of the carbon risk” (abstract)…. “Investors must be aware that carbon risk is priced in by the stock market. This is why they must measure and manage this risk, especially when it is too high or when it is incompatible with the fiduciary duties of their investment portfolios” (S. 37).
Valide Kritik an EU Klimabenchmarks: EU sustainable finance: Impact uncertain von Susanna Rust von IPE vom 15. September 2020: “For the Paris-Aligned Investment Initiative (PAII), a project coordinated by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and steered by major asset owners, this is because other benchmark constructions may result in a greater emissions reduction impact”.
ESG Research Overload und ESG Basics
Der Weg nach Vorne ist kreisförmig: Financing the circular economy – Capturing the opportunity von der Ellen MacArthur Foundation vom 10. September 2020: “Relying solely on energy efficiency and switching to renewable energy will only address 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By adopting circular practices, we can reduce a significant proportion of the remaining 45%. For example, circulating products and materials – instead of producing new ones – can help cut energy demand, by maintaining the energy that went into making them. In agriculture, adopting circular principles is an effective way to sequester carbon in the soil” (S. 11). …”it is estimated that a circular economy could create over half a million jobs by 2030 in Britain alone, in activities such as resale, remanufacturing, and recycling” (S. 12).
Gute ESG Firmen könnten Mitarbeitern weniger zahlen: The Sustainability Wage Gap von Philipp Krueger, Daniel Metzger und Jiaxin Wu vom 11. September 2020: “we provide evidence that firms with better sustainability characteristics tend to pay lower wages (10-20%) and attract and retain higher skilled workers. Supported by evidence from three waves of a large and representative survey (International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)), we argue that workers are willing to give up part of their financial compensation because of nonpecuniary benefits related to their preferences to work in more sustainable sectors” (S. 30).
Mitarbeiterbeteiligung bringt finanziell kaum etwas: The Potential Benefits of Employee Ownership Funds in the United States von Lenore Palladino vom 17. September 2020: “Based on historic dividend payments and employee counts in public 10-K filings, I find that, if EOFs held twenty percent of outstanding equity, the average employee dividend across this sample would be $2,622 per year, while the median is $1,760” (S. 1). Mein Kommentar: Hinzu kommt ein zusätzliches Risiko zum Jobrisiko und ggf. sogar einem Pensionsrisiko.
Kritik an nicht-nachhaltigen öffentlichen Kapitalanlagen: Fiebrige Finanzen – Wie der deutsche Staat das Klima durch steuerfinanzierte Aktiendepots erhitzt- Ein Forschungsprojekt von Fossil Free Berlin vom September 2020: „In Deutschland legten der Bund und sieben Bundesländer im Jahr 2018 insgesamt über 13 Milliarden Euro für ihre Beamtenpensionen in Aktien an, der Bund tut es zusätzlich für die Pflegeversicherung. Sie lassen damit Milliarden auch an Kohle-, Gas-, Fracking- und Ölkonzerne fließen. … Appell: 1. Investitionen aus Kohle, Fracking,
Öl und Gas abziehen. 2. Nur noch in 1,5-Grad-kompatible Firmen investieren.3. Konsequente
ESG-Nachhaltigkeitskriterien einführen, um Klima- und Finanzrisiken zu senken“
ESG-Präferenzen haben wenig Einfluß auf Anleiheemissionen: Primary Corporate Bond Markets and Social Responsibility von Michael Halling, Jin Yu und Josef Zechner vom 10. September 2020: “high scores on characteristics such as product quality or product safety are priced in the bond IPO markets, but there is no evidence that this is also true for dimensions such as the environment, community or human rights” (S. 17). … “Overall, it appears that ES-contained information about bonds’ expected cash flows and their riskiness creates the relation between ES scores and issue spreads, rather than preference-based demand for bonds from high ES issuers” (S. 17).
ESG Research Overload, Engagement und Impact/SDG
Wir Reichen müssen besonders viel ändern: Confronting Carbon Inequality – Putting climate justice at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery von Oxfam vom 21. September 2020: “The richest 5% (c.315 million people) were responsible for over a third (37%) of the total growth in emissions (see Figure 2), while the total growth in emissions of the richest 1% was three times that of the poorest 50% (see Figure 6)”.
Banken sollten nicht nur unterzeichnen, sondern auch handeln: Responsible Banking Parctices Benchmark 2020 von Leila Kamdem-Fotso et al. von Mazars: The benchmark assesses the sustainability practices of a sample of 30 banks. “The banks selected have demonstrated a significant interest in sustainability by participating in the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) initiatives and/or by being signatories to Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB)” (S. 8). “Most of the banks assessed currently offer a wide range of environmentally responsible products, but have yet to develop a product offering that addresses socioeconomic issues to a similar extent. 43% of the banks assessed offer socially responsible investment products” (S. 15).
Larry Fink kann etwas bewegen: CEO (In)Activism and Investor Decisions von Michael Durney, Joseph Johnson, Roshan Sinha und Donald Young vom 18. Juni 2020: …”from a traditional economic perspective, it is not clear why CEO activism would affect investors’ purchase decisions. However, anecdotal evidence, such as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s open letter to CEOs wherein he pressures CEOs to publicly weigh in on issues (Fink 2019), suggests investors pay attention to and might be affected by CEO activism. … Our experimental results suggest that CEO activism affects investor decision-making. Specifically, consistent with our predictions based on social identity theory, we find increased (decreased) stock purchases following (mis)alignment between participant and CEO views on a social issue. Additionally, this effect persists regardless of whether the social issue is more or less relevant to the firm’s operations” (S. 29). Mein Kommentar: Allerdings hat sich Blackrock bisher nicht durch besonders verantwortungsvolle Stimmrechtsausübungen ausgezeichnet (vgl. u.a. mein noch nicht veröffentlicher Beitrag Divestments bewirken mehr als Stimmrechtsausübungen oder Engagement in https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658312138).
Negative Wirkung mancher SDG/Impactinvestments: Five years of SDGs, five lessons learned von Jan Anton van Zanten von Robeco vom 25. September 2020: “… there are also negative overlaps; building infrastructure (SDG 9) typically means increasing greenhouse gas emissions, making it harder to solve climate change (SDG 13). Agriculture accounts for 70% of water withdrawals, assisting with SDG 2 (zero hunger) but adversely impacting SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), while the use of fertilizers and pesticides threatens life on land (SDG 15)”.
Geldanlagen und Menschen
Kein Wunder, dass die Finanzbranche Skandale produziert: Trustworthiness in the financial industry von Andrej Gill, Matthias Heinz, Heiner Schumacher und Matthias Sutter vom 12. August 2020: “Our long-term project has measured students’ trustworthiness early on in their college days (in Wave 2013) and has identified their first permanent job placement several years later (in Wave 2020). We have found that individuals who, at the start of their studies, express a strong interest to work in the financial industry are substantially less trustworthy than individuals with other professional goals. Importantly, this relationship persists if we consider actual job market placements. Individuals who find their first job after graduation in the financial industry are significantly less trustworthy than individuals who commence their career in other industries. The former group returned on average one third less than the latter group in our experimental trust game. Thus, the financial industry does not seem to screen out less trustworthy individuals. If anything the opposite seems to be the case: Even among students who are highly motivated to work in finance after graduation, those who actually start their career in finance are significantly less trustworthy than those who work elsewhere“ (S. 28).
Unmoralisch: Sorting and Wage Premiums in Immoral Work von Florian Schneider, Fanny Brun und Roberto Weber vom 13. August 2020: “Labor markets for immoral work yield significantly higher wages. Moreover, immoral workers are significantly more likely to be hired for immoral work than are moral workers …” (S. 33).
Negative Anreizsysteme: On the Valuation of Performance Fees and Their Impact on Asset Managers’ Incentives von Wei Dai, Robert C. Merton und Savina Rizova von 1. September 2020: “we analyze the impact of different fee structures on manager incentives focusing on systematic managers as more and more asset managers shift toward systematic investing. Our analysis sheds light on why performance fees might have negative implications for the incentives of systematic managers. Thinking through these implications can help investors select an appropriate fee structure consistent with their investment goals” (S. 13).
Viele Geldanlage-Ausreden: Aktienkultur in Deutschland Bevölkerungsbefragung 2020 von pro Aktie vom August 2020: Normalerweise nehme ich kaum Befragungen in meine Researchliste auf, aber diese Befragung ist für Anlageberater und Vermögensverwalter u.a. für die Einwandbehandlung interessant.
Hohe Renditeziele und Finanzbildung sind eher schädlich: Do individual investors bite off more than they can chew? von Catherine D’Hondt, Rudy De Winne Rudy und Maxime Merli vom 22. Juni 2020: “… Investors with higher subjective literacy or with higher subjective risk tolerance report higher target returns … we also show that investors with the highest risk tolerance exhibit significant lower realized portfolio returns. … we find a positive relationship between individual portfolio returns and age, education, portfolio size, portfolio risk, or portfolio return sknewness. Compared to men, women also earn higher returns (S. 26). … We provide evidence that high literate investors set higher target returns, but they are not able to perform better and fall closer to their target returns, compared to low literate investors (S. 27); vgl. https://prof-soehnholz.com/finanzwissen-kann-schaden/).
Privattrader sind gar nicht so schecht: Retail Raw: Wisdom of the Robinhood Cowd and the COVID Crisis von Ivo Welch vom 30. September 2020: “Small retail investors at the Robinhood (RH) retail brokerage firm from 2018 to 2020 shared with Finnish and larger US investors from the 1990s a preference for extreme recent winners and losers. Interestingly, this preference held even for the overall stock market during the March-2020 Covid crisis, indicating an absence of panic and margin calls. Thus, RH investors acted as a (small) market-stabilizing force. They were also unusually interested in some “experience” stocks (e.g., Cannabis stocks). Nevertheless, the narrative of pure irrational exuberance is misleading. Collectively, RH investors bought and held stocks with large past share-volume and dollarvolume, making them invest overwhelmingly in large rather than in obscure stocks. … The collective RH crowd portfolio also did not underperform with respect to standard academic benchmark models” (abstract).
Starke Überzeugungen: Do investors rely on robots? Evidence from an experimental study von B. Alemanni et al. vom 22. September 2020: “Our results show that the probability to follow the advice does not depend on the source of the recommendation (human versus robo advisor) but rather on the alignment between the self-directed choice made before receiving the advice and the recommendation subsequently received. In particular, the propensity to follow the advisor (either human or robo) increases if the advice confirms individual’s own beliefs about her/his investor profile”.
Abzinsungsfaktoren sollten altersabhängig sein: Time Preferences over the Life Cycle von Wataru Kureishi, Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hitoshi Tsujiyama und Midori Wakabayashi vom 29. Juni 2020: “In this paper, we exploit representative long-term panel data in Japan and estimate age patterns of discount rates. We conclude that time preferences do change over the life course. We find that discount rates decrease with age and the decline is remarkably linear over the life cycle. Our finding has important implications for research in economics and policymakers. For example, it is important to consider age-dependent discount rates in life-cycle models for studying consumption dynamics or savings behavior” (S. 22).
Themen-Investments und Smart Beta
Kritik an Themen-ETFs und eine Lösung: The problem with themes like robotics von The Evidence Based Investor vom 24. September 2020: “According to the Morningstar Global Thematic Funds Landscape report, published in February 2020, only 45% of all thematic funds listed at the end of 2009 survived until the end of 2019. Of the funds that survived, just 26% beat the MSCI World Index. …. Look at the fund’s holdings and selection criteria. Are those stocks likely to significantly benefit from the targeted trend, or are unrelated factors likely to have a bigger impact on performance?” Mein Kommentar: Ich stimme der im Beitrag geäußerten Kritik weitgehend zu. Mit meinem Impact ETF Portfolios aus aktuell ca. einem Dutzend auf die Nachhaltigen Entwicklungsziele der Vereinten Nationen fokussierten ETFs gibt es m.E. aber ein durchaus attraktives Themenportfolio, vgl. https://diversifikator.com/de/wp-content/uploads/Das-Diversifikator-Buch.pdf (S. 150/151).
Smarte Namen mit banalem Inhalt: Smart Beta Made Smart von Andreas Johansson, Riccardo Sabbatucci und Andrea Tamoni vom 24. September 2020: “many funds are merely tracking the market (e.g., closet-indexing), regardless of what they claim … we show that investors tend to allocate money into smart beta strategies based on a “naive” classification – based on names instead of true factor replicating performance” (S. 31).
Starke Dividendensignale: Dividend Suspensions and Cash Flow Risk during the Covid-19 Pandemic von Davide Pettenuzzo, Riccardo Sabbatucci und Allan Timmermann vom 28. September 2020: “Our analysis shows that dividend suspensions have a more profound effect on expected future dividend growth and broad economic conditions than the mere dollar amount by which they reduce dividend payments. … the stock market’s reaction to dividend suspensions during the pandemic (strongly negative) was very different from its reaction to large dividend reductions (positive). Apparently, a firm’s ability to pay even a small amount of dividends despite the highly adverse economic effects of pandemic was interpreted by investors as a sign of better-than-expected financial strength” (S. 23/24).
Alternative Investments
US Universitätsstiftungen investieren anders: Seventy-Five Years of Investing for Future Generations von David Chambers, Elroy Dimson und Charikleia Kaffe vom 6. Oktober 2020: “… we documented the distinctive trends in endowments’ long-term asset allocations, such as the early adoption of equity investing and the more recent shift into alternative assets. We highlighted that Ivy League schools were the ones initiating the switches into relatively new asset classes. The heavier weighting in equities and then equity-like alternative assets from the mid-20th century onwards helped drive endowment returns in the second half of our long sample period. …. Calculating changes in active risky-asset allocations, we found that endowments typically exhibited a countercyclical investment pattern—in particular, increasing their allocations to equities after the onset of a crisis. In comparison, extensive prior evidence indicates that retail and other investors without the advantage of a long horizon exhibit strongly procyclical behavior” (S. 15).
Doch keine Heuschrecken: Economics of Leveraged Buyouts: Theory and Evidence from the UK Private Equity Industry von Alexander Belyakov vom 19. März 2020: “It turns out that the leverage of companies with private equity ownership is significantly lower than traditionally considered, with many buyouts financed with either no or just a small amount of debt. Neither private equity owners show any evidence of over-extraction. An almost equal number of PE-backed companies pay dividends and receive money in follow-on equity injections from the PE owner. If anything, private equity owners relax the financial constraints of their portfolio companies and allow them to invest when internal cash flow is low. The ability to receive equity injection from the private equity owner is particularly crucial for financially-distressed companies: as the analysis in this paper shows, such companies do not reduce their investments” (S. 74).
Gute Umsetzung ist für Private Equity Transaktionen entscheidend: Value Creation in Private Equity von Markus Biesinger, Çağatay Bircan und Alexander Ljungqvist vom 5. Juni 2020: “Successful execution (rather than ex ante selection of strategies) appears to be a key driver of investor returns, especially in growth, buyout, and secondary deals. … Company operations and profitability improve in ways consistent with the successful implementation of value creation plans, and these improvements persist beyond PE funds’ exit” (S. 31).
Private Equity mit positivem Impact in Europa: Private Equity at Work – Employment & job creation across Europe: “10.5 million employees worked in private equity backed companies in 2018” (S. 2). “The portfolio companies of Invest Europe members created 173,124 jobs in 2018 – more than the working populations of Bilbao or Bonn. That means 5.5% more people working at companies that our members back than the previous year – five times the European job creation average” (S. 1).
Infrastrukturinvestments sind für kurzfristig orientierte Politiker nicht attraktiv: The Macroeconomic Consequences of Infrastructure Investment von Valerie Ramey vom 4. August 2020: “ …the macroeconomic approach to government investment provides strong support for the long-run benefits of infrastructure spending. However, the same approach raises questions about the suitability of investment in infrastructure and other public capital as a short-run stimulus”.
Lokales Crowdfunding mit erstaunlichen Projekten: Professor Friedrich Grimm hat mich auf www.test-test-contest.de aus Ulm hingewiesen. Er ist mit dem Patent „RES-Strömungskonverter“ für eine Windturbine mit Wendeflügeln einer von 10 Teilnehmern.
Gold glänzt aktuell wieder: Gold as a Financial Instrument von Pedro Gomis-Porqueras, Shuping Shi und David Tan vom 21. September 2020: “… we show that gold is a weak hedge to the stock market and Euro sovereign bond spreads. However, gold is a strong hedge to oil prices (a proxy for extreme movements in inflation). Gold is also a strong safe haven asset when investors are confronted with all three risks considered in this paper. Moreover, we report that gold is a near perfect hedge to the US dollar” (S. 18). Mein Kommentar: Vergleichbare Analysen kann man selbst einfach mit der Funktion „Backtest Portfolio Asset Class Allocation“ machen, siehe www.portfoliovisualizer.com und vgl. https://prof-soehnholz.com/kann-institutionelles-investment-consulting-digitalisiert-werden-beispiele/.
Viel Manipulation bei Kryptotoken: A new wolf in town? Pump-and-dump manipulation in cryptocurrency markets von Anirudh Dhawan und Tālis Putniņš vom 24. September 2020: “we find well over 300 cases of cryptocurrency pump-and-dump manipulation in the space of a mere seven months” (S. 35). “ … “Like pump-and-dump manipulation of stocks, cryptocurrency pumps generate large price distortions (average price movements around 65%), generate abnormal trading volumes (13.5 times average volume), and earn manipulators millions of dollars. Similar to manipulation of stocks, manipulators target fairly illiquid coins, although they avoid coins with so little liquidity that manipulation would be infeasible or not sufficiently profitable”.
ESG Research Overload und Sonstiges
Sachbuchtipp: Ulrich Hemel (Hg.): Weltethos für das 21. Jahrhundert, Freiburg 2019: Das Konzept von Hans Küng aus dem Jahr 1990 ist auch künftig relevant, wie die überwiegend sehr interessanten Beiträge in diesem Buch zeigen. Dabei geht es um „die ethischen Maximen, denen sich Menschen aller Religionen und Überzeugungen überall in der Welt verbunden fühlen“ (Eberhard Stilz, S. 12). Besonders relevant für die Themen meines Blogs sind „Geldethos und Weltethos: Die globale Finanzialisierung und ihre ethischen Dimensionen“ von Bernd Villhauer, „Der Weg der digitalen Balance: Digitalisierung als Herausforderung der Menschlichkeit“ von Ulrich Hemel, „Weltethos und die Agenda 2020 für nachhaltige Entwicklung“ von Klaus Leisinger, „Nachhaltigkeits-Governance: Warum Geschäfte und Technikwunder allein die Umwelt nicht retten“ von Felix Ekart und „Das Ethos der Nachhaltigkeit: Die Gestaltung der Globalisierung im Sinne der 17 Sustainable Development Goals“ von Friedrich Glauner. Felix Ekardt z.B. schreibt „Doch verbraucht ein Auto auch dann noch Fläche und schädigt auch dann noch die Biodiversität und die Grundwasseranreicherung, wenn das Auto vollständig aus essbaren Materialien hergestellt wurde“ (S. 240).
In eigener Sache 1: Prof. Dr. Dirk Söhnholz: Fokus auf nachhaltigen Geldanlageportfolios von Manuela Diehr vom 30.9.2020: „Für viele der Portfolios gibt es weder passive (ETF) noch aktive Fondsalternativen. Im Vergleich zu aktiven Fonds sind die Modellportfolios zudem sehr günstig. Vermögensverwalter und Banken können mit Unterstützung von Diversikator sehr schnell ein sehr breites, tiefes, konsequentes und günstiges Angebot von nachhaltigen Geldanlageprodukten erhalten“.
In eigener Sache 2: Nachhaltig investieren – dieses Ziel prägt die Arbeit von Prof. Dr. Söhnholz seit Jahren bei Beate König vom 30. September 2020: „Künftig wird mein Fokus auf sogenannten Impactportfolios liegen, die Geldanlagen im Sinne der Nachhaltigkeitsziele der Vereinten Nationen ermöglichen …. Dazu habe ich ein Mischfondsportfolio mit strengen ESG-Anforderungen entwickelt. Für private Anleger und geringe Investmentsummen möchte ich ebenfalls konsequent nachhaltige Investments mit sog. Direct ESG Indexing anbieten (vergl. hier). Anlegern und Beratern wird damit effizient ermöglicht, individuelle Nachhaltigkeitsvorstellungen bei den eigenen Investments umzusetzen.“
