The funds ESG-score effect on Norwegian fund flows, and the investors actions in various economic crises

Abstract

This thesis studies the significance of the funds ESG-score for inflows and outflows, as well as volatility and return for the period 2014-2023. We have divided our sample of funds (N=135) into two groups to compare funds with a high ESG-score (>70) and a low ESG-score (<70). We find that funds with a higher ESG-score have a higher proportion of inflows, and we therefore see that funds with a higher ESG-score are traded more. We find that E-score, S-score and G-score have different effects on flows. We see that funds with a higher ESG score have a higher return (32.83% difference over 10 years for our two groups). Finally, our findings show patterns that during economic crises show funds with a higher ESG-score either have a higher decrease in outflows or have a lower outflow than funds with a low ESG-score.