Sustainable Financial Investments

Brian Bolton is Assistant Professor of Finance, School of Business Administration, Portland State University, USA.

Is it possible for an investment to be good for a firm's profitability without also being good for the environment, employees, or community? Author Brian Bolton connects these seemingly disparate ideas and shows how to incorporate economic costs, benefits, cash flows and risks into the evaluation of any type of investment, with particular focus on those investments that are driven by environmental, human, and social considerations. Bolton mixes economic and finance rigor with applied case studies and examples throughout the book to see how the real world fits into the economic and financial analysis structure. By the end of the book readers will have an appreciation for at least two important issues: (1) analysis of all investments do follow a similar process; and, (2) the specific assumptions and variables that are necessary to include in the analysis of sustainability-related investments. The purpose of any investment is to add or create value; hopefully, after finishing this book, your investment in reading it will add value to your ability to think about and evaluate any investment.

• PART I: ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE 1. Purpose of the Firm 2. Stakeholder and Agency Theory 3. Sustainability of Economics 4. Economics of Sustainability 5. Financial Implications and Valuation of CSR 6. Strategy and Economic Value Creation of CSR PART II: APPLIED RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES ON CSR 7. Overview of CSR and Performance Research 8. Econometrics of CSR and Governance Studies 9. Specifics of CSR and firm characteristics