Alexander F. Wagner
SFI Senior Chair, Professor of Finance, University of Zurich
Alexander F. Wagner is Professor of Finance at the University of Zurich. His research has been published in leading academic journals and professional reviews.
Expertise
Professor Wagner studies sustainable finance and corporate finance. Recently he has focused on how investors perceive biodiversity and nature-related financial risks. Analyzing the corporate biodiversity footprint of a large sample of global companies, he documents that in the last two years investors have begun to require higher returns from companies that are damaging biodiversity more. His work on mutual funds and sustainable investments indicates that fund managers are mindful of the loss of diversification when investing too heavily in low-carbon assets. His analysis of the COVID-19 crisis suggests that institutional ownership did not work as a stabilizing force but was associated with more substantial stock price declines, whereas retail investors acted as liquidity providers. Institutional investors prioritized corporate financial strength over "soft" environmental and social performance. These results illustrate how markets—even and especially in crisis periods—can provide important signals to policymakers. Professor Wagner actively participates in SFI Knowledge Exchange activities on corporate ethics and governance.
Expertise Fields
- Financial Markets
- Information and Market Efficiency
- Portfolio Management and Asset Classes
- Behavioral Finance and Neurofinance
- Equities
- Financial Institutions
- Banks
- Institutional Investors and Funds
- Corporate Finance and Governance
- Corporate Governance and Managerial Compensation
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Frontier Topics
- Sustainable Finance