Impact Investing: A Brief History

14 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2016

Date Written: December 2016

Abstract

Over the last decade, impact investing has become an increasingly-discussed topic in the realms of both business and public policy. Impact investors are motived by a desire to advance social or environmental goals and an intuition that pursuing two goals at once - investment returns and social or environmental returns - is more effective than keeping them separate. This article reviews the recent history of impact investing, addresses some of the issues confounding the nascent field, and offers a few definitions that might bring more rigor and clarity to what remains, as yet, a simultaneously confusing and promising investment strategy.

Suggested Citation

Trelstad, Brian, Impact Investing: A Brief History (December 2016). Capitalism & Society, Vol. 11, Issue. 2, Article 4, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2886088

Brian Trelstad (Contact Author)

Bridges Ventures LLP

38 Seymour St
London, W1H 7BP
Great Britain

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
5,891
Abstract Views
11,582
Rank
2,522
PlumX Metrics