Socially Responsible Investment: integrating financial and non-financial criteria into a portfolio selection model.

Abstract

Over the last few years the importance of sustainability and social responsibility has grown rapidly. Many events, including natural disaster, climate change, the high population growth, have drown attention of investors. Therefore, there is a growing awareness among investors which address their investments according not only to their ethical personal values, but also toward investment processes that integrates social, environmental and ethical considerations. The object of this thesis is Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) that is the discipline that aims at combining profitability and social commitment. First, we carry out an analysis of the structural components (Environmental, Social and Governance factors, SRI strategies, SRI indexes) and of the historical development of Socially Responsible Investments. Second, we provide an overview of the dimension and of the characteristics of the SRI market in Europe and in the World. In the last part of the thesis, moving from recent contributions in the literature, we consider a portfolio model that integrates ethical and financial characteristics of assets in the portfolio selection procedure.