| </span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by
My wish is for individual investors to recognise that they hold responsibility for the actions of the company, and thus be concious of the externalizations which their portfolio supports.<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>The vast majority of investment is held by large, annonomous funds (pension and insurance funds). Most individual investors are several steps removed from the actual companies that they are investing in. The idealism of investors being responsible for their investment is all nice and good, but unfortunately doesn't happen in reality.
(there is a similar argument with respect to organic foods -- a small minority of the population will pay significant premiums for organic food; the majority are highly price sensitive)
My own pension had an 'ethical fund'. The returns on this fund were lower than the standard fund (and far lower than the agressive growth fund). The kind of active involvement you talk about is all very nice, but exceptionally rare, when you get into the real world of investment. More importantly, it's contrary to the assumptions of self-interest and market value that drive economic theory. |