Inflation, the corporate greed narrative, and the value of corporate social responsibility

Abstract

Inflation can significantly undermine companies’ relationships with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders, spawning a crisis of trust. This is particularly true in a period when many citizens accuse corporations of excessively raising prices to maximize profits. Studying the cross-sectional reactions of U.S. stocks to inflation over the period 2018-2022, we find that in the month following a higher inflation rate, equity investors reward firms with stronger social capital, as proxied by their corporate social responsibility (CSR) levels. The effect holds using different measures of inflation, including region-specific ones. The inflation-hedging property of CSR is stronger for firms headquartered in Democratic U.S. states (those most exposed to the “corporate greed” narrative of inflation) and appears to operate through the firm’s cash flows. Analyst forecast revisions provide additional evidence of the value of CSR in inflationary periods. Overall, the findings spotlight inflation as a crisis in stakeholder trust and provide new insights into the importance of social capital for firm value.