Abstract：

Using a hand-collected analyst sample matched with analyst reports and earnings conference calls, we explore the causal effect of female analyst coverage on corporate environmental and social (E&S) performance and establish the link between analyst research activities and them monitoring. We show that after an exogenous drop in female analyst coverage due to broker closures, firms experience a 7% decrease in E&S scores. We develop machine learning models to sift through 2.4 million reports and 120,000 call transcripts and show that female equity analysts are more likely to discuss E&S issues in reports and during calls than their male counterparts.

Keywords: female equity analysts; analyst monitoring; corporate environmental and social performance; corporate governance; data-centric AI; FinBERT; analyst reports; earnings conference calls

JEL classification: G24; G30; G40

Brief Introduction of the Speaker

Dr. Li holds the Canada Research Chair in Corporate Governance and W. Maurice Young Endowed Chair in Finance at the UBC Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Senior Fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute, and a Research Fellow of the FinTech at Cornell Initiative. Dr. Li was Senior Associate Dean, Equity and Diversity between 2015-2021.

Dr. Li’s research focuses on the economic consequences of corporate governance mechanisms. Her current research projects explore: (1) gender and finance, (2) machine learning in finance, and (3) bond ownership and creditor governance. Her research has appeared in Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Journal of International Business Studies, and many other leading journals in Finance and Economics. She is the recipient of the UBC Killam Research Award, the Sauder School of Business Research Excellence Award (both junior and senior categories), and the Barclays Global Investors Canada Research Award. She is a Managing Editor of Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, is on the Editorial Board of Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Financial Stability, and Pacific-Basin Finance Journal. She has also served on the Editorial Board of Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, Management Science, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Financial Management. Her research has been featured in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, The Time Magazine, Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg, Dow Jones Newswire, New Yorker, BBC, BNN, CBC National, CTV National News, National Post, Globe and Mail, U.S. News & World Report, Harvard Business Review, and Yahoo! Finance.

Welcome to join in ！