Efficienza ed efficacia nelle scelte di investimento socialmente responsabile

In recent years initiatives through which investors combine ethical or social principles with the most traditional investment selection criteria (return, risk, liquidity etc.) have become more common, even in "young" markets like Italy. One of the aspects that, above all in recent times, researchers, scholars and academics are monitoring is the economic and financial performance of such choices. In reality, what motivates ethical investors is not (or is not only) the expectation of a return similar to more traditional investments but also the ability to use their own money to fulfil ethical requirements. The evaluation of an ethical investment should therefore go beyond efficiency (economic and financial performance) and include considerations such as effectiveness, that is to say, the investment’s ability to fulfil an investor’s ethical expectations. This essay, after a short description of what one means by ethical investors and the behaviours that characterize them, will focus on the balance that is possible between efficiency and effectiveness, in relation to specific businesses.