Why do we invest ethically?

Analysis in this paper has proposed three potential motives for ethical investment - financial returns, non-wealth returns and social change. The motives are developed from the literature and illustrated in the context of a 'best of sector' fund and a socially screened fund. We find that the proposed motives are neither exhaustive nor exclusive and one single motive will not explain the behaviour of all ethical investors. There may be a trade-off between financial and psychic returns for some investors. The trade-off for consumption-investors is expected to be close to zero (total utility is maximised with small levels of ethical investment in the fun of participation model) and is expected to vary with the ethical intensity of investment-investors, as shown when we include ethical intensity into the investor's utility function. Psychic return can also be viewed as an increase in happiness and this approach would lend itself to empirical testing to increase our understanding of why we invest ethically

Good practice? invest in a framework!

M any reports on major national initiatives like the Crime Reduction Programme acknowledge ‘implementation failure’. Common explanations are ‘poor project-management skills’,or ‘short-term funding regimes’. Important as these are,Heraclitus’excellent Soapbox article (‘Good Practice - What’s it all about?’ Network News,Winter 2005) also blamed ‘dumbing down.’ Higher echelons in crime prevention often believe ‘The only information you can hope to get into practitioners’heads is a slogan or two,if lucky.’ I totally disagree. Crime prevention’s basic idea is simple (cutting the cause cuts the risk),but its practice is complex

Landscape study of inclusive business in agrifood systems in India

This landscape study maps out diverse IB models operating in agriculture and food processing in India and develops actionable insights to foster an enabling ecosystem for IB in the country. This landscape study: • Identifies and maps potential IB models in agrifood systems in India. • Examines the key drivers for inclusive agribusinesses, and the supply and demand side challenges faced when scaling them. • Profiles 20 successful IB models in the agrifood sector in India. • Assesses the ecosystem in which IBs operate to identify gaps and opportunities to promote IB models – existing policies, strategies and programmes supporting IB models in agribusiness, the role of the private sector, the financing and impact investment ecosystem, and intermediary organizations. • Provides recommendations to promote inclusive business in agrifood systems in India.</p

Should We Invest in Biofuels?

The real advantage of receiving a Southern Agricultural Economics Association Lifetime Achievement award is the ability to make this presentation and have it published without having to deal with editors and referees. This provides a certain license of freedom to abstract outside the box without being constrained by your peers. So in this vein, consider the following myths and predictions concerning biofuels. These myths are generally consistent with the Grunwald’s (2009) seven myths about alternative energy.Alternative energy, Biofuels, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Value of Waiting to Invest

This paper studies the optimal timing of investment in an irreversible project where the benefits from the project and the investment cost follow continuous-time stochastic processes. The optimal time to invest and an explicit formula for the value of the option to invest are derived. The rule "invest if benefits exceed costs" does not properly account for the option value of waiting.Simulations show that this option value can be significant, and that for surprisingly reasonable parameter values it may be optimal to wait until benefits are twice the investment cost. Finally, we perform comparative static analysis on the valuation formula and on the rule for when to invest.

Why Invest in Collaborative Leadership Development? Summary Report

The Casey Foundation values skillful leadership in creating sustained social change. The Foundation partnered with the University of Maryland, School of Public Policy in sculpting a new approach to match leadership ability with constructive results for children, families and communities -- a collaborative leadership style for complex social issues. Readers, especially other foundations and nonprofit investors, get a look at the findings, lessons learned and recommendations from three years of collaborative leadership capacity-building effort

How Leaders Invest Staffing Resources for Learning Improvement

Analyzes staffing challenges that guide school leaders' resource decisions in the context of a learning improvement agenda, staff resource investment strategies that improve learning outcomes equitably, and ways to win support for differential investment