Download or read book Measuring the Under Diversification of Socially Responsible Investments written by Fabio Pizzutilo and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article proposes a straightforward measure of the residual unsystematic risk that a selective portfolio investment strategy, such as socially responsible investment, eventually bears. The model is empirically employed in order to analyse whether the MSCI socially responsible indices bear significant levels of volatility that could be diversified by not imposing social screenings to the set of eligible investments. The study finds that a low but not negligible part of the volatility of the returns could be diversified by not restricting the investment to socially responsible companies. Implications for the socially responsible investing industry and socially responsible investors are discussed.
Download or read book Measuring the Impact of Socially Responsible Investing written by Olaf Weber and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) intends to create a positive impact on the society and on the environment. However, in contrast to its financial returns, the non-financial impact is usually not assessed in a systematic manner. This article presents an overview of current measurement practices from the financial world and assesses whether they are effective in capturing the real social, ecological and financial impact of SRI. These practices are contrasted to those in environmental, social, and sustainability impact assessment that are established since decades. Based on this analysis we conclude that measuring the impact of SRI should comprise both intended and unintended positive and negative impact. It should include all stakeholders and the total investment portfolio. Finally impact measurement should be based on the mission and the strategy of the investor. The paper presents a concept that takes these criteria into account in impact measurement of SRI.
Download or read book ESG Funds Diversification of Responsible Mutual Funds written by Moritz Ernst and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2023-03-08 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 1,7, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. This is frequently quoted from Milton Friedman, who responds with his doctrine to a corporate’s social responsibility towards its shareholders. This former economic approach highlights therewith the entrustment of investments solely for shareholder value maximization and declares a minimum of social responsibility towards the public, the society, and the environment. Based on a traditional background, investors have pursued financial returns as a measure of their investment outcomes. Contrary to earlier deliberations, the mutual fund industry extended an investment typology in the United States (U.S.) in the seventies, which incorporates environmental and social criteria, and later on governance aspects in investment decisions. Successively, investors started to track the supportive and harmful corporate activities on society and environment they had invested in. This new approach called sustainable investing describes mutual funds striving for financial success while honoring the relationship with and the impact on stakeholders. The concept challenges the classical risk-return relationship that either maximizes the expected return for a certain level of risk or minimizes risk for a favored level of expected return. Nowadays, sustainable issues such as global warming and child labor do reject earlier attitudes of investment approaches reflected by the quote of Milton Friedman introducing an alternative view on investment policy. Since stakeholder worldwide are raising concerns about sustainable issues, expectations towards financial markets are increasing addressing these concerns and deliberating on them. The overall perception changes from capital maximization to the idea that the highest use of capital is to make money working beneficial for the betterment of life. Sustainable investing purposes of institutional investors highlight an increasingly stronger commitment towards ESG issues. Collected data from a survey of BNP Paribas (2019) indicate that the share of asset owners and asset managers who invested at least 25% of their funds in ESG funds was equal to 48% and 53%, respectively, in 2017. Two years later, the share of asset owner and asset manager increased considerably to 72% and 62%, respectively, in 2019.
Download or read book Sustainable Investing written by H. Kent Baker and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Can investors do well financially and do good for the world? Should they try? Many assume that investors "don't care who wins" as long as they are making money. For some investors, this mindset still rings true. Yet, many other investors challenge this stereotype and prefer to "make money mean more." Thus, they have dual goals: making money and doing good. This viewpoint, called sustainable investing, has gained considerable momentum in the last few decades. Sustainable investing delivers value by balancing traditional investing with environmental, social, and governance-related (ESG) insights to improve long-term outcomes. Some view sustainable investing as critical to the sustainability of investing. The book aims to demystify sustainable investing for "average" investors. It uses a question-and-answer format to examine whether such investments have a place in investor portfolios. Each chapter also contains insightful and amusing quotes by investment professionals and others. The book includes six chapters. Chapter 1 examines the changing investment landscape. Chapter 2 explores corporate social responsibility and the evolving responsibilities and obligations of a business. Chapter 3 focuses on the roles of social and religious values in shaping sustainable investing. Chapter 4 discusses the many investment options available to sustainable investors, such as stock, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. Chapter 5 reviews the performance implications of sustainable investing. This research-oriented chapter investigates the intriguing question, "Can sustainable investors have their cake and eat it too?" Finally, Chapter 6 ends by focusing on building a portfolio with a purpose"--
Download or read book Evolutions in Sustainable Investing written by Cary Krosinsky and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-12-27 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable Investing is fast becoming an essential method of generating long-term returns, moving beyond the negative approaches to socially responsible investing that have dominated the field. This book, our second on the subject, provides over 15 case studies of leading global investors and companies demonstrating how they successfully apply sustainability aspects to their core strategies. Learn from prominent thought leaders Dan Esty and Paul Hawken among others who have contributed key chapters. Our chapter on performance shows clearly how these strategies have been working once negative approaches are parsed out by those examining fund returns. This book also examines in great depth what data exists, and what's on the horizon, to best measure & capture sustainability successfully. Regional perspectives, including 3 chapters on Asia, and focuses on Canada, Australia, Africa & India are also included, as is a look across asset classes. Sustainable Investing, when performed with a positive perspective, has been outperforming the mainstream, unlike negative approaches designed to match benchmark returns. From eco-efficiency to sustainability-driven innovation and beyond, investors of all shapes & sizes need to know how best to position themselves for the radical market shifts underway.
Download or read book Classifying and Measuring the Performance of Socially Responsible Mutual Funds written by Denys Glushkov and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We offer a factor model for classifying socially responsible mutual funds and measuring their performance. Our factor model consists of six factors, the four widely used factors of market, small-large (SMB), value-growth (HML), and momentum, and two social responsibility factors, reflecting the criteria most widely-used by socially responsible funds. The first social responsibility factor is the 'top-bottom' factor (TMB), consisting of the difference between the returns of stocks of companies ranked in the top third and the bottom third by five social responsibility criteria: employee relations, community relations, environmental protection, diversity, and products. The second is the 'accepted-shunned' factor (AMS), consisting of the difference between the returns of stocks of companies commonly accepted by socially responsible investors and the returns of stocks of companies commonly shunned by them. Shunned stocks are stocks of companies in the alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms, military, and nuclear industries. We know the coefficient of a factor as its loading, tilt, or beta. We will use the term beta. The betas of the TMB and AMS factors capture well the social responsibility features of indexes and mutual funds, and the TMB and AMS betas of indexes and mutual funds generally reflect the social responsibility scores of the companies whose stocks they contain. Classification of socially responsible mutual funds by betas and contents differs from classification by Morningstar and other classifying services. The measured performance of mutual funds when the TMB and AMS factors are considered differs from their measured performance when these factors are overlooked.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Investments written by Mario La Torre and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-27 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Palgrave Pivot aims to build a bridge between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable finance in financial markets. It investigates classic CSR topics in the light of a modern conception of sustainability. The first part emphasizes four relevant topics in the CSR panorama of financial institutions: banks remuneration practices; human capital disclosure; the impact of environmental performance on banks, and finally, the institutional investors’ attitude towards socially responsible investments (SRIs). The second part explores CSR practices within the financial markets and discusses risk-return profiles of SRI and non-SRI indexes in different time frames. It investigates whether thematic social responsible funds obtain different risk-return than traditional funds, and finally, assesses whether equity crowdfunding could foster social innovation. This book is aimed at scholars and students who are interested in social impact investing and practitioners involved in the social impact market.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Investment ECG Factors written by Julian Popov and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Akademische Arbeit aus dem Jahr 2017 im Fachbereich BWL - Bank, Börse, Versicherung, Note: 1.0, Henley Business School University of Reading, Veranstaltung: Topics in Finance, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Investors talk about increasing profits, minimising transaction costs or how to evade taxes most effectively, but very few investors consider if the company contributes something to society, treats employees with respect or tries to reduce harm to environment; in fact - they do not invest socially responsible. But what is socially responsible and how can firms be obtained which make the grade? This essay provides a short overview about the history of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and its terminology. Furthermore, different investment strategies are explained in order to understand the depth and the variety of possibilities using these strategies. Knowing these facts, the main reason for investors to invest lies within the nature of things: the return. Every good intention will be flood by the opposite, if the good intention does not perform well and the sinner stocks achieve excess returns. The overall opinion about SRI and the most common theory is that the SRI approach is underperforming the market, as the investor is restricted in stock selection, which decreases the possible level of diversification eventually leading to a lower risk-return level. But do SRI portfolios underperform the market, respectively the "Sin Stocks"? Moreover, this paper tries to use statistical approaches to approve or disapprove the abovementioned theory. By regressing the returns of the biggest social index, the KLD 400, against the returns of the S&P500 and the biggest Sin Stocks Fund, called VICEX, an informed choice will be possible. Furthermore, the investment approaches will be analysed in the overall context of their long-term performance and possible explanations for under- and overperformance. In addition, this essays appendix provides an approach of investing, fulfilling the criteria of SRI and the ESGs, which stands for environmental, social and corporate governance criteria. This project deals with the increasing amount of refugees coming to Germany and the consequent lack of real estate supply. This lack of supply causes difficulties regarding the integration process, which will eventually lead to a separation of the community and increasing appeal of right wing populists.
Download or read book ESG and Responsible Institutional Investing Around the World A Critical Review written by Pedro Matos and published by CFA Institute Research Foundation. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This survey examines the vibrant academic literature on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. While there is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues, responsible investors increasingly assess stocks in their portfolios based on nonfinancial data on environmental impact (e.g., carbon emissions), social impact (e.g., employee satisfaction), and governance attributes (e.g., board structure). The objective is to reduce exposure to investments that pose greater ESG risks or to influence companies to become more sustainable. One active area of research at present involves assessing portfolio risk exposure to climate change. This literature review focuses on institutional investors, which have grown in importance such that they have now become the largest holders of shares in public companies globally. Historically, institutional investors tended to concentrate their ESG efforts mostly on corporate governance (the “G” in ESG). These efforts included seeking to eliminate provisions that restrict shareholder rights and enhance managerial power, such as staggered boards, supermajority rules, golden parachutes, and poison pills. Highlights from this section: · There is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues and their materiality. · The ESG issue that gets the most attention from institutional investors is climate change, in particular their portfolio companies’ exposure to carbon risk and “stranded assets.” · Investors should be positioning themselves for increased regulation, with the regulatory agenda being more ambitious in the European Union than in the United States. Readers might come away from this survey skeptical about the potential for ESG investing to affect positive change. I prefer to characterize the current state of the literature as having a “healthy dose of skepticism,” with much more remaining to be explored. Here, I hope the reader comes away with a call to action. For the industry practitioner, I believe that the investment industry should strive to achieve positive societal goals. CFA Institute provides an exemplary case in its Future of Finance series (www.cfainstitute.org/research/future-finance). For the academic community, I suggest we ramp up research aimed at tackling some of the open questions around the pressing societal goals of ESG investing. I am optimistic that practitioners and academics will identify meaningful ways to better harness the power of global financial markets for addressing the pressing ESG issues facing our society.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Finance and Investing written by H. Kent Baker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-10-09 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed look at the role of social responsibility in finance and investing The concept of socially responsible finance and investing continues to grow, especially in the wake of one of the most devastating financial crises in history. This includes responsibility from the corporate side (corporate social responsibility) as well as the investor side (socially responsible investing) of the capital markets. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Socially Responsible Finance and Investing offers an important basis of knowledge regarding both the theory and practice of this ever-evolving area of finance. As part of the Robert W. Kolb Series in Finance, this book showcases contributed chapters from professionals and academics with extensive expertise on this particular subject. It provides a comprehensive view of socially responsible foundations and their applications to finance and investing as determined by the current state of research. Discusses many important issues associated with socially responsible finance and investing, like moral hazard and the concept of "too big to fail" Contains contributed chapters from numerous thought-leaders in the field of finance Presents comprehensive coverage starting with the basics and bringing you through to cutting-edge, current theory and practice Now more than ever, we need to be mindful of the social responsibilities of all investment practices. The recent financial crisis and recession has changed the financial landscape for years to come and Socially Responsible Finance and Investing is a timely guide to help us navigate this difficult terrain.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Investing written by Lawrence Kennedy and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Socially Responsible Investing: Aligning Values and Wealth Creation" welcomes you to a game-changing framework in the field of finance. This exclusive Special Report, authored by the seasoned finance professional and social investing advocate Lawrence Kennedy, bridges the gap between fiscal pragmatism and ethical responsibility. You can now make your money work in a harmonious blend of profit and purpose, aligning your investments with your deeply held values. The report is an all-encompassing guide to socially responsible investing. Not only does it shed light on the practical aspects of creating wealth ethically, but it also dives into interviews, case studies, and strategic advice from experts in the field. Understanding Socially Responsible Investing: A comprehensive introduction to ethical wealth generation, demystifying commonly held confusions. The Inner Mechanics of Ethical Wealth Generation: A in-depth excavation into the nuts and bolts of socially conscious investments. The Shift towards Conscious Capital: Historical Insights: A historical overview of sustainable investing, showcasing the shift towards a more conscious economy. Analyzing Profitability of Socially Responsible Investments: Understand the fiscal potential of ethical investments with robust analyses and evaluations. Key Players in the Field of Social Responsibility Investment: Meet industry leaders and pioneers shaping the landscape of socially responsible investing. Strategies for Successful Socially Responsible Investing: Unlock the best strategies and tools to make your investments align with your social impact objectives. Challenges in Socially Responsible Investing: Mitigation Techniques: Navigate comfortably in the world of socially responsible investing with mitigation techniques for common challenges. Case Studies: Successful Socially Responsible Investors: Draw inspiration from the success stories of individuals who have triumphed in the realm of ethical investments. Measurement and Evaluation of Social Impact Investments: Learn how to measure the impact of your social investments and continuously evaluate your strategies. Charting Your Course: A Practical Guide to Start Investing Socially: Begin your journey in ethical investing with a practical, step-by-step guide curated for you. This isn't just a report-it's a transformative journey towards enriching your financial knowledge, your life, and the world around you. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just dipping your toes into the world of finance, this invaluable guide by Lawrence Kennedy paves the way to ethically sound and profitable investing. Let's take this step towards aligning our wealth with our values, one investment at a time!
Download or read book Do Socially Responsible Investment Funds Under Perform the Market Evidence from China written by Ting Zhang and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built on previous literature, this study first used the Sharpe Ratio and then extended multifactor CAPM-based model and Jensen's alpha to examine whether the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds in China underperform the broad market benchmark index in China. Totally four SRI funds in China were found and observed in the paper. Jensen's alpha is used to measure a SRI fund's performance after accounting for the risk it involved; the lagged terms of two public information variables, risk-free rate and corresponding dividend yield, were incorporated in the extended CAPM-based model. The potential non-stationary, serial autocorrelation, and heteroskedasticity issues that are typically reported in financial data were tested and considered and corresponding appropriate models were estimated through either a Generalized Linear Model or a time series ARIMA model. We found different results when using the extended multifactor CAPM-based modeling versus using the static Sharpe Ratio measure that can be manipulated. The multifactor cautiously specified dynamic CAPM-based modeling generated more comprehensive and robust results. Based on the modeling, we find that two largest and most industry-diversified SRI funds in China have statistically significant positive alphas and outperform the broad market index (CSI300 Index) in China. Those two outperforming SRI funds also both share concentration and outweigh the market in Pharmaceutical and Biology and Food and Beverage. The two non-outperforming SRI funds both have a particularly high concentration in one industry and both are managed by the same company. The identified underperforming fund has a particularly high industry specialization in Finance and Insurance. It is speculated that the industry diversification and the scale of a SRI fund could be related to a SRI fund performance. More information on screening and fund details would be helpful for further study.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Investment written by Enrique Ballestero and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book integrates socially responsible investment into modern portfolio theory from a multi-criteria perspective. Socially responsible investment is a “new deal” championed by the institutional investment and bank sectors, agents that influence mutual funds and other collective investment schemes and which fear that financial strategies without ethical constraints can harm sustainable growth and prosperity. The book shows how to combine financial criteria such as profitability and risk with non-financial criteria such as the protection of the ecosystem, responsible consumption of energy, and healthcare campaigns. The book’s first part presents critical issues in ethical investment, while the second explains in detail the application of goal programming techniques for SRI funds, illustrating their use in actual cases. Part three demonstrates how compromise programming can be applied in the contexts of portfolio selection and risk management. Finally, in its fourth part the book examines the application of other decision-making support methods like the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework, the Reference Point Method, and soft computing techniques for portfolio selection.
Download or read book Measuring the Risk Impact of Social Screening written by Patrick Geddes and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the nineteenth century investors have incorporated social or ethical values into their portfolios, an approach described over time with such labels as SRI (socially responsible investing), ESG (environmental, social, governance), or MRI (mission-related investing). Among investment professionals a contentious debate rages as to whether SRI is a well-intentioned effort doomed to suffer a performance penalty or a viable alternative with the potential for alpha due to screening based on the assumption that such screening will be rewarded in the market. The performance debate has been covered in other research; this article focuses on the measurement of risk introduced by SRI screening for public equities. For simplicity, the term SRI is used as the term for screened investing in general, with ESG used as a term for the specific environmental, social, and governance issues screened.
Download or read book Socially Responsible Investment in a Global Environment written by Hung-Gay Fung and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors have done an excellent job explaining the development and practice of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Under the recent recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia and its strong emphasis by US and European corporations, this book provides important guidance to students and professionals who are interested in the effects and implications of SRI. This book is truly informative and should be on the reading list of all fund managers and CFOs of international corporations which are serious about CSR. Louis T.W. Cheng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Individual investors and corporate heads have the responsibility to keep abreast of major changes in the marketplace. Socially responsible investment is one of those changes. Fung, Law and Yau provide, in a single source, a great opportunity to get up to date on an area that will be a force for years to come. I encourage any thoughtful investor or manager to read this book. Thomas Schneeweis, University of Massachusetts Amherst, US Socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming increasingly popular and can be potentially rewarding to all parties concerned. This book discusses the opportunities, challenges, and practices of SRI in a global financial environment in a consistent and integrated framework of risk management. It also covers a wide variety of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues related to various participants, such as values-based retail, institutional investors, corporations, banks, supranational agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Readers are provided with the perspectives of SRI from various players in the financial community from values-based investors to fiduciaries to supranational agencies. The authors analyse the incorporation of ESG issues into investment practices within a regulatory, legal, reputational, and operational risk management framework. Academics, corporate executives, government regulators and policymakers, bankers, and non-governmental organizations involved with sustainable development will find much of interest in this book.
Download or read book The Socially Responsible Investing Book written by Evelyn Mia and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-08-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Socially responsible investing is the practice of investing money in companies and funds that have positive social impacts. Socially responsible investing has been growing in popularity in recent history. The short answer is yes. A 2020 research analysis from asset-management firm Arabesque Partners found that 80% of the reviewed studies demonstrated that sustainability practices have a positive influence on investment performance. ESG looks at the company's environmental, social, and governance practices alongside more traditional financial measures. Socially responsible investing involves choosing or disqualifying investments based on specific ethical criteria. The most common types of sustainable investing are socially responsible investing (SRI), which excludes companies based on certain criteria, and ESG, a more broad-based approach focused on protecting a portfolio from operational or reputational risk.
Download or read book Handbook on Ethics in Finance written by Leire San-Jose and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
