By Erin Shackelford

“What can communities do to make it easier to attract and deploy capital and leverage other assets to achieve their social goals?”  This question, central to the concept of capital absorption, is addressed in a new report which applies the concept to hospitals and health systems.  Released today, “Improving Community Health by Strengthening Community Investment:  Roles for Hospitals and Health Systems” is co-authored by Robin Hacke (Kresge) and IRI Assistant Director Katie Grace Deane.  With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Hacke and Deane expand their work on capital absorption into the area of hospitals and health systems, examining how these institutions may be able to drive community health improvements by investing in the social determinants of health. Read more about NEW IRI/RWJF Report Advances Capital Absorption Work With a Focus on Pioneering Health Institutions

by Katie Grace Deane

Small cities across the state of Massachusetts, from Lawrence and Fall River to Chicopee and Pittsfield, are facing many of the same economic challenges we saw highlighted during the 2016 election across the Rust Belt and upper Midwest. Many of these “Gateway” or “Working” cities in Massachusetts were founded on a strong manufacturing base, which declined over the latter half of the 20^th century, leaving behind economic stagnation and declining population. While many of these cities today are seeing increased attention as a result of their regional importance (Pittsfield and Springfield) or rising populations from immigration, they still lag the state averages in household income and educational attainment.   Read more about Investing in Small Cities: Capital Absorption in Massachusetts

by Katie Grace Deane

This week, the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) released its long-awaited Recommendations report, presenting a broadly-applicable framework for climate-related financial disclosure across sectors and jurisdictions. The disclosure recommendations are intended to apply to both companies, who are the traditional focus of disclosure regimes, as well as investors, whether asset managers or asset owners.

The Task Force identified four areas of main focus for climate-related financial disclosures:

Read more about Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Recommendations Report Released

By Erin Shackelford

Worrisome levels of economic inequality have received growing attention in recent years from a variety of sources and perspectives.  Prominently, the United Nations Development Programme has included “Reduced Inequalities” as one of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (aka the SDGs), raising the profile of inequality as a pressing global issue.  The very real impacts of inequality on people and society, and, in turn, on growth and political stability, are increasingly hard to ignore.  And, while government action is certainly a key part of reducing economic inequality, private sector investment is implicated, as well. 

Calls to action like the UN’s SDGs provide an important opportunity for investors to examine how risks related to high levels of economic inequality may be embedded in their portfolio, and what they might do about it.

Drawing on recent research, a new discussion paper by IRI Director David Wood, written for the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, aims to aid investors as they seek to understand and address economic inequality.  With a summary of current thinking and questions to spark discussion, “Why and How Might Investors Respond to Economic Inequality” is a tool specifically written to prompt investors to think about their possible responses to this emergent risk, and the role their own investments may play in promoting, or mitigating, economic inequality.  Read more about Why and How Might Investors Respond to Economic Inequality?