Socially Responsible Investing and Management Style of Mutual Funds in the Euronext Stock Markets

Abstract

This paper analyses fund management styles on the Euronext stock exchanges. Especially, we investigate how social responsibility is accounted for. We use style analysis to assess fund performance in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands for over 800 investment funds during the 1990s. We find remarkable and significant differences in performance characteristics among these markets. Furthermore, we find that funds that to some extent mirror well known social responsibility indices tend to perform better than funds that bear no relationship with social responsible investment strategies.