Global corporate social responsibility reporting regulation

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has steadily grown in importance. We show government regulation on corporate reporting of CSR, aimed to spur its growth and increase transparency of its extent at the firm level, has grown in tandem. Such reporting regulation more readily observable than CSR activity itself and can be used as a proxy for the latter at the country level, and also as an indication of a country’s interest in promoting CSR. We show that larger economies find it easier to institute such regulations, and that international influences and local concerns from increases in pollution levels are important contributing factors. We provide evidence that such regulation also tends to increase CSR reports, even after accounting for the possibility that common unobserved factors affect both reporting requirements and CSR activity.