Having a Look at the Effectiveness of SRI-endeavours

This paper, an epilogue to the special issue on socially responsible investment (SRI), is a first attempt to philosophically tackle information asymmetries that pertain to the consequences or the effectiveness of SRI-policies. The paper discerns four types or techniques of SRI: 1) shareholder engagement; 2) the selection of best-in-class entities; 3) the maintenance of categorical exclusions; 4) the financing of alternative economies. For each technique, the paper first briefly sketches the mechanism that is put to work by the SRI-investor. Then, I try to assess whether the investor is able to know whether or not his SRI-effort is being or has been effective in the real world.