&
&
Is it ethical?
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Advertising
Alcohol
Animals
Military
Gambling
Media
Nuclear power
Overseas interests
Political donations
Company size
South Africa
Tobacco
Banks & finance
Group 1
60
(%)
Group 2
65
(%)
Group 2a
33
(%)
Group 2b
32
(%)
67
47
72
98
62
8
90
48
70
18
100
90
82
15
32
22
80
34
2
43
5
23
8
92
51
32
0
3
39
76
12
3
58
9
30
9
85
9
48
31
63
3
84
56
0
28
0
16
6
100
94
16
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Is it ethical?
So, is ethical investment ethical? If so, in what
sense and with what caveats?
The prima facie case for applying ethical
considerations to investment is that, like any area
of human activity, it should not be immune from
ethical scrutiny. Two strands of thinking are
discernible. The first, which follows naturally
from the prima facie case, seeks to ensure that
consistent standards of behaviour are applied in
all areas of life. For example, it might be considered inappropriate for someone who advocates
teetotalism to hold shares in a distillery. To many
observers, passively holding a stock and making
a return from it indicates some support for a
Looking forward
The title of the lecture was Accounting and
Financial Ethics, and this is the inaugural lecture
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Note
1. This article is adapted from the text of an inaugural
lecture delivered at the University of Huddersfield,
25 February 1998.
References
Anand, P. and Cowton, C.J. 1993. `The ethical
investor: exploring dimension of investment behaviour'. Journal of Economic Psychology, 14:2,
377385.
Cowton, C.J. 1990. `Where their treasure is: Anglican
religious communities and ethical investment'.
Crucible, AprilJune, 5158.
Cowton, C.J. 1994. `The development of ethical investment products'. In Prindl, A.R. and Prodhan, B.
(Eds.), Ethical Conflicts in Finance, Oxford: Blackwell, 213232.
Cowton, C.J. 1997. `Socially responsible investment'.
In Chadwick, R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics,
Volume 4, New York: Academic Press, 181190.
Crisp, R. and Cowton, C.J. 1994. `Hypocrisy and
moral seriousness'. American Philosophical Quarterly, 31:4, 343349.
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