HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute
World-Class Hub for Sustainability
Virtual Seminar
HKU Governance and Sustainability Seminar Series
Thursday, April 10, 2025
The Sustainability Wage Gap
Date and Time
Thursday, April 10, 2025 · 5:30 PM HKT
Format
Online (75-minute online seminar)
Speaker & Moderator
Speaker
Prof. Philipp Krüger
University of Geneva
Philipp Krüger is a Professor of Finance at the University of Geneva and holds a Senior Chair at the Swiss Finance Institute. He studied economics and finance in Germany, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom and graduated with a PhD in Economics (Summa cum laude) from the Toulouse School of Economics in 2010.
His research has been published in the leading scientific and professional journals in finance and accounting. Several of his papers have been among the most cited finance papers published in the recent past. For example, a paper on ESG rating disagreement is the most cited paper published in the Financial Analyst Journal since 2021. His research has also been featured in the financial press (e.g., Financial Times or The Economist) and is often referenced by central bankers and financial markets regulators around the world.
Besides his research activities, Professor Krüger is also involved in the finance industry. For instance, he serves on the board of experts for Inrate AG in Zurich and advises one of the largest Swiss banks on ESG investing.
Please refer to https://sites.google.com/site/philippkrueger/ for more details.
Moderator
Prof. Jian (Colin) Zhang
HKU Business School
Professor Jian Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Hong Kong. His primary research interests include household finance, behavioral finance, real estate, financial intermediation and sustainability. His research is accepted for publication at Journal of Financial Economics (×2), Review of Economics and Statistics (×2), Management Science (×2), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and Review of Finance. He is an Associate Editor of Journal of Business Research.
Please refer to https://colinjianzhang.github.io/ for more details.
About This Seminar
This seminar features Prof. Philipp Krüger from University of Geneva, sharing insights from his working paper titled “The Sustainability Wage Gap”.
Paper Abstract
Using administrative employer-employee matched data, we provide evidence that workers earn substantially lower wages in more sustainable firms. Examining both cross-sectional and time-series heterogeneity, we find that the wage gap is larger for high-skilled workers and increasing over time. We hypothesize that this Sustainability Wage Gap arises because workers with preferences for sustainability accept lower wages to work in more environmentally sustainable firms. Using a battery of additional tests, we argue that our results are difficult to reconcile with many alternative interpretations suggested in prior research such as a better work-life balance or better career opportunities.
Krueger, Philipp and Metzger, Daniel and Wu, Jiaxin, The Sustainability Wage Gap (November 3, 2023). Swedish House of Finance Research Paper No. 20-14, European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper 718/2020, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 21-17, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3672492 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3672492
The HKU Governance and Sustainability Seminar series is organised by the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute.
