Abstract
This thesis examines the impact of socially responsible investment on the risk and performance of portfolios. It is based on four studies, including three empirical studies.The first study proposes an inventory and a critical analysis of the portfolios' CSR risks. It indicates that CSR risks assessed in different ways by the actors still exist within the portfolios and evolve with the institutional context. Their level may be low or high depending on the CSR practices of the companies in which the resources are invested. The second study deals with the comparative analysis of the financial risk of SRI funds and conventional funds. On a sample of funds distributed in France over the period 2002-2012, our results show that SRI funds may have a higher level of diversification than matched conventional matched regardless of market conditions. These are SRI funds invested in the Eurozone and globally. However, regardless of market conditions, SRI funds invested in the Eurozone, Europe and France have a greater systematic risk than their traditional counterparts, contrary to SRI global funds. The third study analyzes the financial risk of portfolios built according to companies’ level of ESG performance over the period 2002-2014. These portfolios cover the Eurozone and the U.S. firms. Our analysis shows that the U.S. portfolios which over-perform on the aggregate ESG criteria or individually on the three ESG criteria have a lower financial risk than those that underperform on these dimensions. For the same types of portfolios, the Eurozone exhibit a lower specific risk. The results on the systematic risk are influenced by the industry-specific effects for the U.S. portfolios and the country-specific effects for the Eurozone portfolios. The fourth study examines the financial performance persistence of SRI and conventional funds. It shows through non-parametric tests that there is no performance persistence for both SRI and conventional funds.