Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Financial Technology and Business Analysis
Series Vol. 61 , 28 December 2023
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Can Warren Buffett’s Investment Decisions Independent of ESG? Evidence from Berkshire Hathaway
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Abstract
The past decade has witnessed a growing recognition of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing, yet the application of ESG principles within Berkshire Hathaway, under the leadership of renowned investor Warren Buffett, has not been prominently evident. This study seeks to ascertain whether the historical investment decisions made by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, seemingly disassociated from active ESG involvement, may have nonetheless been subject to the influence of ESG factors. Employing methodologies encompassing correlation and regression analyses, this research unveils a discernible positive relationship between Berkshire Hathaway's investment quantities and the ESG scores of the invested firms. Moreover, companies demonstrating a positive trajectory in ESG considerations tend to be more aptly enlisted in the subsequent year's investment roster, while those witnessing a decline in ESG scores are prone to exclusion. In a comparative exploration of financial variables and ESG metrics, this study chose profit margin, ultimately revealing that ESG scores exert a notably more pronounced impact on Berkshire Hathaway's investment deliberations, specifically pertaining to share quantities, in contrast to the effect exerted by profit margin.
Keywords
ESG investing, Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, Correlation, Regression Analysis
References
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Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Financial Technology and Business Analysis
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-223-7
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-224-4
- Published Date
- 28 December 2023
- Series
- Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
- ISSN (Print)
- 2754-1169
- ISSN (Online)
- 2754-1177
- DOI
- 10.54254/2754-1169/61/20230733
- Copyright
- 28 December 2023
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited