Incorporating Labor and Human Rights Risk Into Investment Decisions

By Aaron Bernstein
Published in:
Pensions Occasional Papers,
Labor and Worklife Program

Mainstream investors for the first time are beginning to assess labor and human rights factors as a way of increasing returns and lowering risk as part of a broader movement in the investment world to include corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) behavior into portfolio and lending decisions. However, the paper also describes why investment analysis of labor and human rights poses some of the most difficult challenges in the emerging ESG field.

[Downlad the paper]

*New* Capital Matters, July 2008

Vol. 1, No. 4 | July 2008

•Experiments in Public Sector Pension Fund Design
•Accounting for Pension Fund Risk and Reward
• A Code of Conduct for Pension Trustees
• CEO Pay as a Proxy for Good Corporate Governance
• DB and DC Investment Returns Compared
• Labor, Human Rights and Investment Risk

[Capital Matters | July 2008]
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Big Pharma's R&D Booster Shot

By Ben Rissing and Peter Engardio
Published in:
BusinessWeek

In their quest to develop new drugs, Western pharmaceutical companies are increasingly teaming up with companies in China and India

 [Full article in BusinessWeek ]

Universities set the pace in labor relations

By Richard Freeman
LWP Faculty Co-Director and Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Most Americans think of auto, steel and other blue-collar workers negotiating with giant manufacturers when they think of labor relations. These industries set the pace in U.S. collective bargaining from the 1940's to the 1970's.

[Read the full article.]

America Works: Critical Thoughts on the Exceptional US Labor Market

By Richard B. Freeman
"...Readable, reasoned, compassionate and enjoyable". - Lawrence Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute

Economist Richard Freeman, Labor & Worklife Program Faculty Co-Chair and Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University paints a picture with broad brushstrokes of the dynamic American labor market and fares compared to European and industrialized nations.

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[Read the introduction]