Research background: In recent decades, companies have paid increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its related performance. Scandinavian countries lead the world in CSR and sustainability. The good CSR performance of Scandinavian companies has motivated studies on this phenomenon, particularly on the connection between a company's CSR and its performance. One of the most important performance indicators and value drivers is the cost of debt. Purpose of the article: This study assessed the impact of CSR on the cost of debt in Scandinavian public companies. Methods: The research was divided into two stages. In the first stage, Scandinavian public companies were divided into two groups (with and without ESG (environmental, social, governance) disclosure scores) to reveal differences in the cost of debt. In the second stage, a fixed-effects regression model for balanced panel data sets was applied from 2011 to 2020 to assess the impact of ESG and its pillars on the cost of debt. Findings & value added: The results revealed that the cost of debt of companies in Scandinavian countries with ESG disclosure scores was significantly lower. The ESG disclosure scores of these companies have increased significantly over the past 10 years. We found a positive impact of CSR on the cost of debt in Scandinavian public companies. The increase in ESG disclosure and pillar scores reduced the cost of debt. These findings are valuable from a scientific perspective. Scandinavian public companies with ESG scores have higher financial risk, but lower cost of debt. These results support the importance of investors' behavior, information asymmetry, and signaling. The findings have several implications for shareholders, managers and creditors. They suggest that creditors consider ESG disclosures when determining a borrower's creditworthiness. Additionally, it is a message to regulators that the debt market values ESG disclosures.

This research tests the Adaptive Market Hypothesis (AMH) regarding calendar anomalies in the Baltic stock markets. Analysis of known calendar anomalies over time is carried out by using sub-sample GARCH (1,1) regression with Kruskal–Wallis statistics and rolling windows. Three calendar anomalies were confirmed in these markets: Friday, MoY (July and January), and ToM (turn-of-the-month). The Baltic stock markets demonstrated behavior supporting the AMH. It was found that the opportunity to earn abnormal returns on investment strategies based on Friday, July, and ToM effects disappeared during the financial crisis of 2007–9. The Friday and the ToM effects follow a more time-varying pattern, while the July effect is less so.

Research background: The green bond market is growing every year. This market becomes an effective financing mechanism for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Even though approximately two-thirds of the research confirmed the existence of a green bond premium (GBP) in the secondary market, certain circumstances may deny it. Among them are comparable credit quality, market demand and supply dynamics, market liquidity, regulatory and policy support, investment preferences, etc. These circumstances are the main motivation for continuing the studies related to GBP, testing its existence for the issuers in Nordic countries. These countries have rather ambitious policies for environmental protection and low-carbon development, the presence of a transformative Nordic model for greening the economy, and issuers overall are positive towards the EU Green Bond Standard. Purpose of the article: This study aims to determine the GBP in the secondary market. Methods: A matching method is used to determine the pairs of green and conventional bonds. A fixed-effects panel regression model is performed to control for the difference in liquidity between each green bond and its counterfactual to extract GBP. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test with continuity correction is applied to test the significance of GBP. Findings & value added: The findings did not prove the existence of GBP, neither for the total sample nor for sub-samples by the issuer type. The study continued dividing the entire research period into three sub-periods (pre-COVID-19, COVID-19, and the Russian-Ukrainian war). However, the results did not change. The findings suggest that the GBP does not reflect market participants’ willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly investments, and it is not incorporated into pricing models by adjusting for risk, preference, and regulatory impact.