June 8, 2005

Ethical Investment

Urban Onramps has a interesting post on reporting good news about Africa. Ethical investment is something I would like to see getting more attention amongst Christian thinkers, especially as we see more and more DIY retirement planning. It seems to me that investing in emerging markets and needy countries is a good way to supplement […]

It seems to me that investing in emerging markets and needy countries is a good way to supplement charitable giving and develop an ethical way of being a global citizen. However, doing this requires good information and reporting, which as highlighted is often in short supply.

As for Paul Wolfowitz as chairman of the world bank; well I’m still in shock and finding it hard to comment, but my “skepticism” shoud be assumed.

Tagged Daily Life, Theology

Rod 20 years ago

I just about the latest G8 meeting, and how the wealthiest countryies of the world will once again neglect to adequately address Africa’s myriad challenges. Our concept of global citizenship still focuses on investing in those countries which will yield the fastest financial gain, not necessarily those who need the most help. Christian ethics would require a reversal of this logic.

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f 20 years ago

Thanks Rod,

It is a complex issue not made any easier by the failure of some countries to manage themselves better. Part of my thought is to separate more clearly aid as gift from aid as investment. In fact, I just don’t like the idea of aid as investment, because politicians use to it make them seem like they are making a gift, when it fact they are binding. Not all countries are ecnomically strong enough for those sorts of commitments.

Whilst our aid will always go first to the most needy, i sometimes wonder if our investment might sometimes go best to those ready to make the most with it, so long as they are committed to bringing their region with them. A small part of the solution for Africa (as it looks to me) would be for some of the larger countries to grow more economically stable thus creating local markets for the smaller countries around them. Whilst it wouldn’t solve all the problems, I do believe that if Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Cameroon had been better managed and less corrupt over the past 20 years, the plight of Africa as a whole would be very different.

Ethical Investment

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