Beyond the Basket: Do Socially Responsible Consumers Build Sustainable Portfolios?

Working Paper

Do individuals offset sustainability across domains, or do preferences align? Using survey data and three years of administrative records on portfolio holdings and transaction-level consumption from retail clients of a large French bank, we studied the relationship between socially responsible consumption (SRC) and investment (SRI). We found a robust positive association between sustainable consumption and sustainable portfolio shares in both stated and revealed behavior. Panel evidence shows that this relationship is driven by persistent cross-sectional differences rather than within-individual rebalancing. Category-level analyses further indicate that environmentally oriented spending—especially on green mobility—and online purchases are associated with higher SRI exposure.