Responsible Business and Finance Conference: Linking Research and Practice

Haas will bring together leading academic researchers and practitioners from across the globe to discuss the financial implications of a firm’s corporate social responsibility strategies at a conference Nov. 3-4.

“Finance and Responsible Business Practices: Research, Practice, and Policy” will explore questions such as how does social responsibility affect a firm’s cost of capital and access to capital?, can socially responsible firms survive competition?, and how does CSR affect firm value?

The two-day conference is a joint project of the Berkeley-Haas Center for Responsible Business and the European Center for Corporate Engagement at the Netherlands’ Maastricht University.

“The conference aims to advance our understanding of the relationship between responsible business practices, financial markets, and the financing of corporations,” says Nadja Guenster, a Haas visiting assistant professor and assistant professor of finance at Maastricht University.

The first day will focus on the financial implications of sustainability practices, including how social responsibility affects access to and the cost of capital. Afternoon sessions center on environmental, social, and governance choices—known as ESG—which have become the standard in measuring socially responsible investing.

Harrison Hong, the John Scully ’66 Professor of Economics and Finance at Princeton, will give that evening keynote address.

The second day’s discussions will center on the drivers of social responsibility and sustainable finance theory. Scott Beth, vice president of finance and operations at Intuit, will give the lunch keynote.

For more information and to register, visit the conference website.