This section highlights the most recently published Erb Faculty research.
Faculty Publications
Andy Hoffman wins award for paper on BP Oil Spill
March 8, 2012
The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict, and Change was selected as the “Breaking the Frame” Award winner for papers published in JMI in 2011. Journal of Management Inquiry is sponsored by the Western Academy of Management. The paper was co-authored with P. Devereaux Jennings.
Read more: Have We Changed Our Ways After the BP Oil Spill? (html)
Download the paper: The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict, and Change (pdf)
The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment
November 30, 2011
The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment
Edited by Pratima Bansal and Andrew J. Hoffman
Oxford University Press, December 2011
Understanding the intersection of business activity and environmental protection has become increasingly complex, and there has emerged a focus in academic research on business decision-making, firm behavior, and the protection of the natural environment. This handbook reviews the state of the field as it grows into a mature area of study within management science, its achievements, and its future avenues of research. It brings together original contributions in the field along several lines of inquiry. The first six focus on disciplines as delineated in contemporary business schools: business strategy; policy and non-market strategies; organizational theory and behavior; operations and technology; marketing; and accounting and finance. The seventh section reviews emergent and associated perspectives, whilst a concluding section, written by long-standing leaders in the field, discusses the future outlook for research. Additional Details
Newsweek’s green business rankings story cites research by Tom Lyon and Jay Shimshack
October 17, 2011
Read the story citing Professors Lyon and Shimshack’s research:
“How Going Green Can Make You Rich.” (pdf) | or read it online
Click here to see all of the Newsweek green business rankings stories
Read Lyon and Shimshack’s followup blog post: Does the Stock Market Care about Newsweek’s Green Rankings? (html)
Disclosure: Evidence from Newsweek’s Green Companies Rankings
September 23, 2011
Thomas P. Lyon, University of Michigan
Jay P. Shimshack, Tulane University and Erb Institute Visiting Scholar
Abstract:
Corporate-level environmental information disclosure is increasingly common. We study the impact of a prominent media-generated sustainability ratings program, Newsweek’s 2009 ranking of the 500 largest US firms. Using an event study methodology, we find the rankings had a significant impact on shareholder value. Firms in the top 100 experienced abnormal returns after the information release that were 0.6 – 1.0 percent higher than returns of firms in the bottom 400. The form of the information released had significant effects as well. Nuanced environmental score variables had no independent impact on market outcomes; only the final ranking mattered. We also explore possible channels through which the rankings may have had their impact. We find suggestive evidence that private and public politics mechanisms were the most important.
Read the Paper: Disclosure: Evidence from Newsweek’s Green Companies Rankings (pdf)
New Working Paper from Andy Hoffman on the BP Oil Spill
January 20, 2011
Andrew J. Hoffman, University of Michigan
P. Devereaux Jennings,University of Alberta
The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict and Change (pdf).
Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?
December 1, 2010
Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation
Thomas P. Lyon, University of Michigan
Haitao Yin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
The Energy Journal 31 by the IAEE: 131-155.
Renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) for electricity generation are politically popular in many U.S. states although economic analysis suggests they are not first-best policies. We present an empirical analysis of the political and economic factors that drive state governments to adopt an RPS, and the factors that lead to the inclusion of in-state requirements given the adoption of an RPS. Although advocates claim an RPS will stimulate job growth, we find that states with high unemployment rates are slower to adopt an RPS. Local environmental conditions and preferences have no significant effect on the timing of adoption. Overall, RPS adoption seems to be driven more by political ideology and private interests than by local environmental and employment benefits, raising questions as to when environmental federalism serves the public interest.
Hoffman’s recent controversial publication fuels discussion
November 19, 2010
Professor AndyHoffman’s recent controversial Climate Change and Culture publication continues to fuel discussion.
Can Social Scientists Help Ease the Nation’s Rift Over Climate Change? The story was also picked up by Scientific American from an original Climate Wire post:
Stop being so skeptical of climate skeptics, says one researcher who believes there’s been a failure to understand the mounting cultural doubt around atmospheric warming.
The national discussion on climate change is brimming with economic models, scientific findings and wonky plans to fix it. But something is missing: academic explanations of why people flout reams of scientific conclusions, bristle at the notion of cutting carbon and regard climate change as a sneaky liberal plot.
“The social sciences are glaringly missing,” says Andrew Hoffman, an expert on the sociological aspects of environmental policies at the University of Michigan, for which he’s researching climate denial. “That leaves out critical questions about the cultural dimensions of both defining the problem and finding solutions.”
Informing Green Markets 2010
October 27, 2010
Informing Green Markets: The Roles of Industry, NGOs and Government by Thomas P. Lyon and Julian Dautremont-Smith
Download (pdf) Informing Green Markets: The Roles of Industry, NGOs and Government
Memo to the CEO: Climate Change, What’s Your Business Strategy?
October 20, 2010
With John Woody, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2008
Translations available in: Chinese, Danish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal edition)
Informing Green Markets: The Roles of Industry, NGOs and Government
September 13, 2010
June 17-19, 2010
Informing Green Markets: The Roles of Industry, NGOs and Government
Sponsored by the Erb Institute at the Ross School in Ann Arbor/ By Invitation only.
The conference is designed to stimulate dialogue between the private sector, the public sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academia and will focus on the dynamic processes by which information in green markets emerges and evolves. It is designed to provoke a “deep dive” discussion into how green markets will develop in upcoming years, and the appropriate roles of government regulation, corporate environmenal claims, and external evaluations by NGOs.
Download the Conference Report(pdf)
Complete Conference website
Papers and Slide Presentations
