Last week Rob Bauer, Kees Koedijk and Roger Otten (all affiliated with Maastricht University) received the 2002 Moskowitz Prize at the SRI in the Rockies conference in Colorado Springs (USA). This in recognition of their report, "International Evidence on Ethical Mutual Fund Performance and Investment Style.
Their paper deals with the investment performance of socially responsible mutual funds compared to conventional mutual funds. Using evidence for the US, the UK and Germany they conclude that SRI mutual funds do not under-perform conventional funds, although their investment style differs substantially from conventional funds. In addition to that the authors document that older SRI funds out-perform younger SRI funds, indicating a learning effect. Finally, the study finds that the older SRI funds follow an investment style that clearly deviates from the style followed by conventional funds. Younger SRI funds however hardly deviate from conventional mutual fund investment styles, raising the question how socially responsible these funds really are.
The Moskowitz Prize was created in 1996 by the Social Investment Forum, a U.S. association of social investment professionals. The Prize is awarded annually to reward outstanding research in the field of Social Responsible Investing. It is named for Milton Moskowitz, senior editor of Business and Society Review and co-author of "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America . Sponsors of the prize are The Calvert Group, Harris Bretall Sullivan & Smith, Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co, Rockefeller & Co and Trillium Asset Management.
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