Does it pay to be an ethical investor?

Ethical investing is a bone of contention among fund managers. Matthew Partridge looks at the arguments for and against.

Ethical investing also called socially responsible investment (SRI) is an approach that attempts to balance financial return with social good. Perhaps surprisingly, it's one of the most controversial topics in fund management today in part because experts are divided about whether ethical funds do better or worse than the overall market.

One group argues that shares in companies that act responsibly should outperform on average, because they tend to be better run. Their opponents argue that stocks in despised sectors are likely to provide better returns to compensate for the "stigma" of holding them.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri