Abstract

This dissertation examines how disclosure, transparency, and ethical interventions shape market behavior within the broader context of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. The first chapter studies sustainability transparency in a product-market competition model in which customers and investors differ in their responsiveness to firms’ ESG performance. It shows that transparency can reduce unit-level externalities while increasing aggregate externalities through expanded production and market segmentation, with important implications for social welfare and empirical research design. The second chapter extends this analysis from sustainability disclosure to ethical declarations, which can be understood as a governance-oriented form of ESG communication. Using a controlled market experiment, it examines whether public ethical statements affect seller reporting, buyer trust, and auction outcomes. The findings show that such declarations can influence buyers’ beliefs and the terms of trade even when they do not materially reduce seller misreporting. Together, the chapters demonstrate that both sustainability transparency and governance-oriented ethical disclosures can produce unintended consequences when market participants respond strategically and heterogeneously to information.

Committee Chair

Jeremy Bertomeu

Committee Members

Edwige Cheynel; Jared Jennings; Mahendra Gupta; Richard Frankel; Todd Gormley

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Accounting

Author's School

Olin Business School

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

7-28-2026

Language

English (en)

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Available for download on Monday, March 27, 2028

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