Can we invest ethically? | The question | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
When a friend buys a smartphone, a laptop, or a perhaps a portion of a pension fund, do we think of them as unethical investors? All of these goods are produced using raw materials which involve exploitation and injustice; or, in the case of the pension fund, almost all of them invest in industries whose activities we sometimes regard as immoral. This week is national ethical investment week. This raises obvious questions, such as what constitutes an unethical investment, and whether we can avoid them.
But it also raises more complex questions, about the boundaries of ethical behaviour. "Ethical investment" is normally discussed as if it were a problem for companies. Companies, in turn, are assumed to have no obligation except to their shareholders. But we are all economic actors. Many of us have obligations to our families. We are all enmeshed in these kinds of problem. How can we hope to struggle free? What can we demand of religious institutions, of companies, and of pension funds?
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