Hello!

I am Sahand Davani, a 4th year PhD candidate in Management Sciences - Finance at ESADE Business School.

My research interests lie at the intersection of corporate finance and financial markets, with a focus on how non-financial information influences the financial decisions of firms and other market participants. I am on the 2024-2025 academic job market. 

You can reach me via email at sahand.davani@esade.edu.

Job Market Paper

The Power of ESG Labels (View on SSRN)

This paper investigates how ESG labels influence firms' ownership by institutional investors and their cost of capital. Using a Regression Discontinuity design, I find that among firms with high MSCI ESG scores, those with better ESG labels attract higher ownership by ESG institutional investors, which lowers their perceived cost of capital. Conversely, among firms with low MSCI ESG scores, those with worse ESG labels have higher ownership by ESG institutional investors, resulting in a lower perceived cost of capital. I argue that the contrasting behavior of ESG institutional investors based on the firms' ESG scores, reflects distinct responsible investment strategies they pursue.