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Can Impact Investing Avoid the Failures of Microfinance?

Harvard Business Review

In 2010, J.P Morgan projected up to $1T in investment would be deployed this decade — which would make impact investing twice the size of official development aid to the world’s less develop countries (as defined by the United Nations) , presuming historic levels of aid stayed constant since 2010.

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Even for Companies, the U.S. Is Split Between Haves and Have-Nots

Harvard Business Review

Economywide ROIC has trended downward since the 1980s, falling from above 6% in the mid-1960s to 5% in 1980, then to 3% in 1990, and to only a bit more than 1% by 2010. companies have enjoyed supernormal rates of return. But this phenomenon of rising competitive intensity does not, evidently, apply to all firms.

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Retirement Planning Needs a Better UX

Harvard Business Review

As Thaler and I demonstrated, this problem can be minimized if investors are shown longer-term rates of return. In our digital world, people might look at their investment portfolio far more often, which means they are getting more short-term investing feedback.

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The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability

Harvard Business Review

For example, Bunge, an agribusiness firm, reported a $56 million quarterly loss in its sugar and bioenergy segments due to drought in 2010. billion in mining projects since 2010. One study estimated that companies experience an average internal rate of return of 27% to 80% on their low carbon investments.

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Could a Four-Year-Old Do What Carl Icahn Does?

Harvard Business Review

In 2010 it was $900 million — seventh place. r>g: Economist Thomas Piketty’s formula for spiraling wealth inequality, in which the rate of return on capital is higher than economic growth, has its critics. He reportedly took home compensation of $1.7 billion in 2013, making him the fifth highest-paid fund manager in the land.

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Requiring Companies to Disclose Climate Risks Helps Everyone

Harvard Business Review

The SEC has recognized this point; in 2010 it issued a planning document asking publicly traded companies to disclose their climate exposure risk. A recent NBER working paper documents that from 1985 to 2014 this trading strategy would have yielded a large annualized average rate of return of 9.2%.