In summer 2022, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Hoover Institution Working Group on Corporate Governance at Stanford University, and Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University jointly conducted a nationwide survey of 2,470 investors — distributed by gender, race, age, household income, and state residence — to understand how American investors view environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities among the companies in their investment portfolio. Key findings include: Investors have diametrically opposed views of ESG based on their age. Young investors want fund managers to advocate for environmental and social causes. Older investors want them to stick with generating financial returns. Young investors claim to be willing to lose between 6 and 10 percent of their retirement savings to support ESG causes. Older investors do not want to lose anything. Young investors claim to be much more knowledgeable than older investors about the stock market. They also have higher expectations for future growth. Investors invest with managers who share their views. Without regard to their view of ESG, investors want fund managers to take their personal views into account when voting shares.
Stephen H. Haber, John D. Kepler, David F. Larcker, Amit Seru, and Brian Tayan. Further inquiries about reproduction and use should be directed to the Corporate Governance Research Initiative.
