We examine the long-term performance of stocks appearing in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America. We find that sustainability stocks exhibit abnormal returns for 12–30 months after the index listing, while those stocks generate no excess returns before the index listing. Moreover, sustainability stocks experience an increase in institutional ownership after the index listing. However, we find no evidence that short sellers increase their position to exploit a possible overpricing for sustainability stocks. Overall, our analysis suggests that sustainability efforts translate into a permanent increase in demand for stocks, leading to the superior performance.

我们研究了道琼斯可持续发展指数北美地区股票的长期表现。我们发现，可持续发展股票在指数上市后的12-30个月内表现出异常收益，而这些股票在指数上市前并未产生超额收益。此外，指数上市后，可持续发展股票的机构所有权有所增加。但是，我们没有发现证据表明卖空者会增加其地位，以利用可能的可持续性股票定价过高。总体而言，我们的分析表明，可持续发展的努力可以转化为对库存需求的永久性增长，从而带来卓越的绩效。