ABSTRACT
The market for retail responsible investment products has gone through a tremendous change in the last few decades. These days, the phenomenon most often known in the marketplace, as well as in this chapter, as ‘socially responsible investment’ (SRI) mutual funds, has grown to become a recognized segment in many countries. While the retail market will always have difficulties matching the sheer size of institutional SRI investment, the fact is that retail investors increasingly seem to opt to put at least part of their investments in funds that incorporate some sort of social or environmental concern. For example, in Europe, EuroSIF (2010) reports that the retail SRI segment has grown in almost all European markets. Meanwhile, in the United States, there now are around 250 SRI investment funds to choose from, compared to only 55 in 1995 (USSIF, 2010). The fact that this growth is taking place despite being impeded by factors such as a limited set of SRI investment options and conventional theories of portfolio diversification that disfavour SRI is a testament to the strength of this trend.
