3 Review(s)

"Socially responsible" investing (SRI), which incorporates nonfinancial social and ethical criteria into investment decisions, has attracted significant attention in recent years and sparked interest among some institutional investors, public pension funds, and Social Security reform advocates, particularly in the wake of recent corporate scandals. In "Pension Fund Politics," experts from relevant fields examine this trend and conclude that it is a serious threat to fiduciary independence and responsibilities. The authors support their argument with a blistering deconstruction of the myths that underlie mainstream social investing philosophy. They argue that SRI tends to promote ambiguous, trendy, and controversial policy options that are not always progressive and frequently hurt the stakeholders - particularly the environment and the economically disadvantaged - they are supposedly designed to help.