69 resultados para Ethical funds


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This study jointly examines herding, momentum trading and performance in real estate mutual funds (REMFs). We do this using trading and performance data for 159 REMFs across the period 1998–2008. In support of the view that Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) stocks are relatively more transparent, we find that stock herding by REMFs is lower in REIT stocks than other stock. Herding behavior in our data reveals a tendency for managers to sell winners, reflective of the “disposition effect.” We find low overall levels of REMF momentum trading, but further evidence of the disposition effect when momentum trading is segregated into buy–sell dimensions. We test the robustness of our analysis using style analysis, and by reference to the level of fund dividend distribution. Our results for this are consistent with our conjecture about the role of transparency in herding, but they provide no new insights in relation to the momentum-trading dimensions of our analysis. Summarizing what are complex interrelationships, we find that neither herding nor momentum trading are demonstrably superior investment strategies for REMFs.

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An unlisted property fund is a private investment vehicle which aims to provide direct property total returns and may also employ financial leverage which will accentuate performance. They have become a far more prevalent institutional property investment conduit since the early 2000’s. Investors have been primarily attracted to them due to the ease of executing a property exposure, both domestically and internationally, and for their diversification benefits given the capital intensive nature of constructing a well diversified commercial property investment portfolio. However, despite their greater prominence there has been little academic research conducted on the performance and risks of unlisted property fund investments. This can be attributed to a paucity of available data and limited time series where it exists. In this study we have made use of a unique dataset of institutional UK unlisted non-listed property funds over the period 2003Q4 to 2011Q4, using a panel modelling framework in order to determine the key factors which impact on fund performance. The sample provided a rich set of unlisted property fund factors including market exposures, direct property characteristics and the level of financial leverage employed. The findings from the panel regression analysis show that a small number of variables are able to account for the performance of unlisted property funds. These variables should be considered by investors when assessing the risk and return of these vehicles. The impact of financial leverage upon the performance of these vehicles through the recent global financial crisis and subsequent UK commercial property market downturn was also studied. The findings indicate a significant asymmetric effect of employing debt finance within unlisted property funds.

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This book examines to what extent the invention and first use of nuclear weapons was a turning point in the history of warfare and strategy(to what extent was it a mere continuation or perfection of air power strategy? Were the casualty numbers really unprecedented?), the ethics of war (was this form of war against civilians unprecedented?), and it asks whether it was an expression of total war or did it create total war

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The current state of the art and direction of research in computer vision aimed at automating the analysis of CCTV images is presented. This includes low level identification of objects within the field of view of cameras, following those objects over time and between cameras, and the interpretation of those objects’ appearance and movements with respect to models of behaviour (and therefore intentions inferred). The potential ethical problems (and some potential opportunities) such developments may pose if and when deployed in the real world are presented, and suggestions made as to the necessary new regulations which will be needed if such systems are not to further enhance the power of the surveillers against the surveilled.

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In recent decades there has been an ethical turn in expectations of how African mineral production and trade should be conducted. Good labour conditions, the absence of conflict and mining’s potential for securing economic, social and environmental benefits are being demanded in the jewellery trade. As a consequence the quality of precious and semi-precious metals and gemstones is now being judged on their ethical credentials in addition to their aesthetic and mineral qualities. Mineral production for industrial manufacture, particularly in the electronics industry, is also coming under scrutiny. Adding value through ethics is closely associated with the use of voluntary (non-state) regulation. This includes standards and associated certification and labels, which have been widely adopted by the minerals and metals sector in efforts to ensure improvements in the social and environmental conditions of production and to enable access to the profitable and expanding global ‘ethical market’. In this chapter, we focus on ethical trading schemes that incorporate voluntary regulation, by using artisanal gold mining in Tanzania and the sale of gold through international fair trade markets as an exemplar to consider the development dynamics that emerge from ethical schemes.

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We pursue the first large-scale investigation of a strongly growing mutual fund type: Islamic funds. Based on an unexplored, survivorship bias-adjusted data set, we analyse the financial performance and investment style of 265 Islamic equity funds from 20 countries. As Islamic funds often have diverse investment regions, we develop a (conditional) three-level Carhart model to simultaneously control for exposure to different national, regional and global equity markets and investment styles. Consistent with recent evidence for conventional funds, we find Islamic funds to display superior learning in more developed Islamic financial markets. While Islamic funds from these markets are competitive to international equity benchmarks, funds from especially Western nations with less Islamic assets tend to significantly underperform. Islamic funds’ investment style is somewhat tilted towards growth stocks. Funds from predominantly Muslim economies also show a clear small cap preference. These results are consistent over time and robust to time varying market exposures and capital market restrictions.

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Purpose: This paper explores the extent of site-specific and geographic segmental social, environmental and ethical reporting by mining companies operating in Ghana. We aim to: (i) establish a picture of corporate transparency relating to geographic segmentation of social, environmental and ethical reporting which is specific to operating sites and country of operation, and; (ii) gauge the impact of the introduction of integrated reporting on site-specific social, environmental and ethical reporting. Methodology/Approach: We conducted an interpretive content analysis of the annual/integrated reports of mining companies for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 in order to extract site-specific social, environmental and ethical information relating to the companies’ mining operations in Ghana. Findings and Implications: We found that site-specific social, environmental and ethical reporting is extremely patchy and inconsistent between the companies’ reports studied. We also found that there was no information relating to certain sites, which were in operation, according to the Ghana Minerals Commission. This could simply be because operations were not in progress. Alternatively it could be that decisions are made concerning which site-specific information is reported according to a certain benchmark. One policy implication arising from this research is that IFRS should require geographic segmental reporting of material social, environmental and ethical information in order to bring IFRS into line with global developments in integrated reporting. Originality: Although there is a wealth of sustainability reporting research and an emergent literature on integrated reporting, there is currently no academic research exploring site-specific social, environmental and ethical reporting

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Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate how values from within Abrahamic religions could be adopted to improve liberal market economies’ (LMEs’) corporate governance business practices. Design/methodology/approach – The concept of spiritual capitalism is explained from an Islamic perspective by adopting three universal Abrahamic values to critically analyse LMEs and offer an ethical alternative to current capitalism concerns. Findings – It is found that LMEs can be improved by considering all stakeholders, putting ethics before economics, and introducing shared risk/reward plus lower debt. Originality/value – The paper compares LMEs/Co-ordinated market economies (CMEs)/Islamic countries economies (ICEs) within an ethical framework for LMEs.

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This article explores the interactions between disabled forced migrants with care needs and professionals and the restrictive legal, policy and practice context that health and social care professionals have to confront, based on the findings of a qualitative study with 45 participants in the South-East of England. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 forced migrants who had diverse impairments and chronic illnesses (8 women and 7 men), 13 family caregivers and 17 support workers and strategic professionals working in social care and the third sector in Slough, Reading and London. The legal status of forced migrants significantly affects their entitlements to health and social care provision, resulting in prolonged periods of destitution for many families. National asylum support policies, difficult working relationships with UK Border Agency, higher eligibility thresholds and reduced social care budgets of local authorities were identified as significant barriers in responding to the support needs of disabled forced migrants and family caregivers. In this context, social workers experienced considerable ethical dilemmas. The research raises profound questions about the potential and limitations of health and social care policies, provision, and practice as means of protection and support in fulfilling the human rights of forced migrants with care needs.

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In this paper, we aim to distil myriad stakeholder voices through a Foucaudian theoretical apparatus in the establishment of ethical stakeholder voices amidst a takeover of a Ghanaian National Bank with ownership control by the state National Pension Fund and Insurance Company. Resonating with Foucault’s position that, the prove and an actual practice of ethical principles despite risk is non-existent within a democracy, this paper reveals how stakeholders in a takeover further their own interest to the neglect of the very germane societal expectation of a salient stakeholder role. We further fill an existing gap within the stakeholder literature that posit of stakeholders as always possessing the right and ethical voices. We conclude that, despite Foucault’s last lecture of The Courage of Truth: The Government of the Self and others having proven of a robust apparatus in distilling ethical voices from non-ethical within the realm of a democratic field, its idealist nature demands a counterfactual position.

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Green supply chain management and environmental and ethical behaviour (EEB), a major component of corporate responsibility (CR), are rapidly developing fields in research and practice. The influence and effect of EEB at the functional level, however, is under-researched. Similarly, the management of risk in the supply chain has become a practical concern for many firms. It is important that managers have a good understanding of the risks associated with supplier partnerships. This paper examines the effect of firms’ investment in EEB as part of corporate social responsibility in mediating the relationship between supply chain partnership (SCP) and management appreciation of the risk of partnering. We hypothesise that simply entering into a SCP does not facilitate an appreciation of the risk of partnering and may even hamper such awareness. However, such an appreciation of the risk is facilitated through CR’s environmental and stakeholder management ethos. The study contributes further by separating risk into distinct relational and performance components. The results of a firm-level survey confirm the mediation effect, highlighting the value to supply chain strategy and design of investing in EEB on three fronts: building internal awareness, monitoring and sharing best practice.