Industry-wide voluntary agreements are touted as a means for corporations to take more corporate social responsibility (CSR). We study what type of joint CSR agreement induces firms to increase CSR efforts in a model of oligopolistic competition with differentiated products. Consumers have a...

This paper explores the effectiveness of the voluntary reform. It studies a voluntary healthcare reform that was implemented in Ireland in 2008. The analysis is conducted using a theoretical model and empirical evidence. In 2008, in the hope to reduce waiting lists, new contracts were issued...

Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) typically require their members to declare whether they hold standard-essential patents (SEPs) or disclose which SEPs they own, and to commit to licensing SEPs on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) terms. The apparent vagueness of FRAND...

Previous scholars have noted the increase in negotiated agreements as a means of resolving utility regulatory disputes in the United States. These agreements allow policy actors to make their own decisions instead of receiving orders from a regulatory agency. Through a natural gas utility case...

This study aims to examine the trends in the sustainability performance indicators disclosed in sustainability reports by Canadian companies. Our sample is comprised of eight companies in four sectors and our observations cover a 19-year period. The results of our analysis show a general...

We investigate the effects of incentive-alignment mechanisms on voluntary disclosure of carbon emissions in Korea, a latecomer in incorporating environmental practices into business operations. We consider in particular the effects of corporate governance and compensation mechanisms. We find...

Property law responds poorly to the lived reality of the climate crisis. In particular, it fails to address the uncontrollable negative externalities endemic to this crisis. Today, we need and share resources from which it would be ineffective and harmful to exclude our neighbors. Yet exclusion...

Voluntary contributions to public goods may be motivated by a desire to be a moral person, or in other words, by identity concerns. In a field experiment (N=373) we test how positive and negative shocks to subjects' environmental identity affect voluntary efforts for climate protection. In a...

We examine the association between mandated Asset Retirement Obligations (ARO), i.e., environmental clean-up costs of normal operations estimated on the balance sheet, and the quality of voluntary ESG disclosures. We hypothesize that when firms recognize larger AROs with higher accuracy that...

Digital platforms such as Amazon Marketplace or Google Search are commercial and political actors. They have taken center-stage as new spaces for exchange. They facilitate digitally networked interactions and transactions between different customer groups through algorithms, data, and other...

Increasingly, firms are under pressure to take responsibility for the externalities their business activities generate. To avoid being targeted by activists, firms may engage in self-regulation. We study this phenomenon in the context of the payment transparency movement in extractive...

Due to its great contribution to environmental pollution, the American utility industry is increasingly under a high level of scrutiny by its stakeholders. Proponents of the legitimacy theory, argue that poor environmental performers are likely to voluntarily disclose more environmental...

I study how voluntary disclosure of information affects outcomes in plea bargaining. A prosecutor negotiates a sentence with a defendant who privately knows whether he is guilty or innocent. The prosecutor can gather evidence regarding the defendant's type during negotiations, and a trial...

In this paper, we examine factors prompting companies to voluntarily adopt sustainability standards for sustainability reporting and the consequences of such voluntary commitment. Using data on firms’ voluntary adoption of sustainability standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting...

Corporate climate disclosures are considered an essential prerequisite to managing climate-related financial risks. At the same time, current disclosures are imprecise, inaccurate, and greenwashing-prone. We introduce a deep learning approach to enable comprehensive climate disclosure analyses...

This paper hypothesizes that if an earnings announcement fails to resolve uncertainty about the firm’s future outcomes, then management will take steps to further inform investors. The novelty of our approach consists of our empirical proxy for unresolved uncertainty, constructed using a...

Voluntary standards have become a promising mode of governance to promote sustainable production and consumption in global value chains. Despite a growing number of studies on consumers' preferences for sustainable products, insufficient attention has been paid to the heterogeneity of existing...

Industry-wide voluntary agreements are touted as a means for corporations to take more corporate social responsibility (CSR). We study what type of joint CSR agreement induces firms to increase CSR efforts in a model of oligopolistic competition with differentiated products. Consumers have a...

The impact finance market has sought to 'internalise externalities and adjust risk perceptions' (G20 Green Finance Study Group, 2016), demonstrating the private sector's capability in resolving the climate free-rider problem through the 'greening' of economic activities, partially bypassing...

Objective - This study aims to criticize the meaning of taxpayer's compliance.Methodology – The paradigm used in this study is a qualitative design through dramaturgy theory.Findings and Novelty – The result of the study indicates that the present taxpaying compliance is still equivocal with...

In its aims to illustrate the limits and potentials of self-regulation, this research not only makes reference to the Enforced Self-Regulation model, but also the Competitive and Cooperative Enforced Self-Regulation model. In so doing it aims to consolidate on previous results derived from...

The Paris Agreement called for voluntary cooperation between firms, NGOs, and the state, to meet global climate goals. This study examines the development of voluntary carbon projects (VCPs) in Iceland - a country aiming to be carbon neutral by 2040. There is little empirical evidence on what...