Investors Can And Should Address The Fundamental Causes Of Income Inequality

Investors are increasingly aware of the system-level effects of their investments. In a previous post I have written about how the very large asset owners and asset managers have to consider whether their investments are making a positive or negative contribution to the financial, environmental, and social systems that support human life on Earth. Sudden shocks (e.g., the financial crisis of 2008) and steady and persistent degradations (e.g., from climate change) in these systems will make it impossible for investors to earn the returns expected by their ultimate beneficiaries—all of us.