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Does Divestment Work?
Beginning in the early nineteen-eighties, students on college campuses across the U.S. demanded that their universities stop investing in companies that conducted business in South Africa, in protest of the apartheid system. As an example of social activism, the campaign was a phenomenal success: by the end of the decade, about a hundred and fifty educational institutions had divested. But did the campaign succeed in pressuring the South African government to dismantle apartheid? The answer is less obvious than you might think. The economists Siew Hong Teoh, Ivo Welch, and C. Paul Wazzan studied how U.S. divestment movements affected the South African financial market and the share prices of U.S. companies with South African operations. Divestments were expected, on average, to decrease share prices, but the study found that, in fact, political pressure turned out to have no discernible effect on the shares’ public market valuations. According to the authors, a possible explanation of this finding is that “the boycott primarily reallocated shares and operations from ‘socially responsible’ to more indifferent investors and countries.”
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Will This ‘Back to the Future’ Move Put The Pedal To The Metal For Impact Investing?
A Return To 1994 Policy Guidance Clears Way For Pension Fund Fiduciaries To Consider Social Impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Technology
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- impact investing
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ImpactAssets Releases Annual IA 50 Impact Investment Fund Showcase
ImpactAssets has released its 2015 impact investing showcase, the ImpactAssets 50 (IA 50), a free online resource for investors and financial advisors. The fifth annual guide features fund managers representing private debt and equity investments that deliver social and environmental impact as well as financial returns.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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The Younger the Investors, the More They Care About Values
The global investment management industry may not know what has hit it. Leadership does not always come from the grey haired folk, particularly in an age of fast technological change, where the best ideas can rise up from the crowd, without structure or planned deliberation.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
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How a Techie Got the Nudge to Help the Poor
Atul Satija had a clear vision in his mind. He wanted to leave his comfy job at Google and embark on a journey to do some social good.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- South Asia
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Ampion East Africa Venture Bus Tour Kicks Off
Africa is full of dreams and dreamers; dreamers who have great visions; visions that are the backbones of opportunities. The dreamers need a continent that can offer better technological solutions, better education, better service delivery, better healthcare and better and efficient platforms for doing business.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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BlackRock Launches Global Impact Equity Fund
BlackRock has launched a global impact equity fund aiming to invest in 'measurable social and environmental outcomes' at a time when such criteria are becoming increasingly important to investors.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
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Zurich Pledges to Focus 10% of Investments on Delivering ‘Positive Impact’
Insurance group Zurich has revealed plans to plough around $100m into companies and projects that have a positive environmental or social impact.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
- Tags
- impact investing