Environmental and Social Disclosures and Firm Risk

ArticleWe examine the link between a firm’s environmental (E) and social (S) disclosures and measures of its risk including total, systematic, and idiosyncratic risk. While we do not find any link between a firm’s E and S disclosures and its systematic risk, we find a negative and significant association between these disclosures and a firm’s total and idiosyncratic risk. These are novel findings and are consistent with the predictions of the stakeholder theory and the resource based view of the firm suggesting that firms which make extensive and objective E and S disclosures promote corporate transparency that can help them build a positive reputation and trust with its stakeholders, which in turn can help mitigate the firm’s idiosyncratic/operational risk. These findings are important for all corporate stakeholders including managers, employees, and suppliers who have a significant economic interest in the survival and success of the firm

Estimated lung age in healthy North African adults cannot be predicted using reference equations derived from other populations

Introduction: Interpretation of “lung age” data relies upon comparison of the chronological lung age (CLA) with the estimated lung age (ELA) predicted from published reference equations [7–10]. Aim: To test the applicability of the published reference equations in healthy non-smoker Tunisian aged 19–90 years. Population and methods: Published reference equations were applied to the spirometry results of 540 adults (364 women). Two methods of comparison were applied: (i) Determination, according each equation, of the percentages of subjects having a deltaLungAge (=ELA–CLA) > Upper-Limit-of-Normal (ULN). (ii) Bland and Altman comparison, for the same age range as in the corresponding study, between CLA and ELA. Results: The mean ± SD (95% confidence interval) of the total sample CLA and height were 48.8 ± 13.1 (47.7–49.9) years and 164 ± 10 (163–165) cm. (i) The percentages of healthy subjects with a deltaLungAge > ULN varied from 1% (Newbury) to 64% (Hansen) in men, and from 20% (Yamaguchi) to 51% (Hansen, Morris and Temple) for women. (ii) Mean ± SD ELA was significantly underestimated by 17 ± 19 years (Hansen), by 12 ± 23 years (Morris and Temple) and was significantly overestimated by 4 ± 19 years (Newbury). Mean ± SD ELA from Yamaguchi et al. [10] was not statistically different from the CLA (1 ± 14 years). Conclusion: The published reference equations did not reliably predict CLA data in the Tunisian population. Awaiting the establishment of reliable equation proper to North African population, we recommend the use of the Yamaguchi et al.’s [10] reference equations

The Impact of Forest Certification on Firm Financial Performance in Canada and the U.S.

abnormal returns, buy-and-hold abnor- mal returns, cumulative abnormal returns, environmental performance, event study, financial performance, forest certification,