TY - JOUR
T1 - Do crowdfunding returns reward risk? Evidences from clean-tech projects
AU - Bento, Nuno
AU - Gianfrate, Gianfranco
AU - Groppo, Sara Virginia
N1 - Funding Information:
Nuno Bento acknowledges the postdoctoral grant (ref. SFRH/BPD/91183/2012 ) received from Fundação paraa Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).
Funding Information:
Nuno Bento acknowledges the postdoctoral grant (ref. SFRH/BPD/91183/2012) received from Funda??o paraa Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - The growing literature on crowdfunding has mostly focused on the determinants of campaigns success, as well as on the legal and macroeconomic drivers of the crowdfunding diffusion as a mean to finance innovative projects. Still there are scant evidences on whether the returns for crowdfunders are consistent with the risk profile of crowdfunded projects. By studying 365 European clean-tech projects which raised capital via crowdfunding, we show that once the country risk has been accounted for, the returns are not consistent with the risks related to the technology adopted by the projects. Behavioral factors like bounded rationality or the cultural dimension of investors may explain this apparent mispricing of risks. While projects’ returns are, on average, negatively related to risks, we find that projects offering better risk-adjusted returns attract relatively larger average contributions. Our results have important implications for understanding the drivers of crowdfunding returns and its sustainability, and particularly for its diffusion as an instrument to foster the transition to a low-carbon economy.
AB - The growing literature on crowdfunding has mostly focused on the determinants of campaigns success, as well as on the legal and macroeconomic drivers of the crowdfunding diffusion as a mean to finance innovative projects. Still there are scant evidences on whether the returns for crowdfunders are consistent with the risk profile of crowdfunded projects. By studying 365 European clean-tech projects which raised capital via crowdfunding, we show that once the country risk has been accounted for, the returns are not consistent with the risks related to the technology adopted by the projects. Behavioral factors like bounded rationality or the cultural dimension of investors may explain this apparent mispricing of risks. While projects’ returns are, on average, negatively related to risks, we find that projects offering better risk-adjusted returns attract relatively larger average contributions. Our results have important implications for understanding the drivers of crowdfunding returns and its sustainability, and particularly for its diffusion as an instrument to foster the transition to a low-carbon economy.
KW - Clean-tech
KW - Crowdfunding
KW - Innovation financing
KW - Learning
KW - Renewable energy
KW - Technology risks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050167289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.007
DO - 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85050167289
SN - 0040-1625
VL - 141
SP - 107
EP - 116
JO - Technological Forecasting and Social Change
JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change
ER -