The Evolution of Value Series - Part 3, by Wayne Visser
Article
The dominance of shareholder value grew through the 1970s and into the ‘greed is good’ Wall Street boom-and-bust 1980s, with deregulation ushering in a new era of creative financial products like derivatives. This in turn fuelled the growth of the casino economy – which economist John Maynard Keynes had warned about decades previously, saying:
The Evolution of Value Series - Part 2, by Wayne Visser
Article
Today, many of us are more familiar with shareholder value than subsistence value. Shareholders are an ingenious invention dating back to the creation of the first corporations in the 17th century. Before then, while subsistence value prevailed, business and trade happened mostly at a small and local scale. Merchants tended to self-fund their enterprises, reaching out to their extended family or a wealthy benefactor for funds.
by Lydia Miller, Senior VP and Portfolio Specialist with Dana Investment Advisors
The concept and acceptance of moving toward a Circular Economy have grown significantly in the last several years. While definitions vary, most focus on maximizing the value of materials, products, and other resources (i.e., water, energy) that circulate in the economy by maintaining them in the economy for as long as possible while also minimizing the consumption of materials and the generation of waste.
In college, one of my professors taught a popular theory of economics that a company’s sole purpose is to deliver profit to shareholders. Since then I’ve found that, yes, of course you want a company to be profitable so it can continue to exist. But the purpose of business to me is what it does — what service it provides, what product it makes, and how it helps people, society, and the planet.
by Mark LaVerghetta, Co-Founder and Chief Governance Officer of Land Betterment
We are at the forefront of a transformational shift throughout the Appalachian region and parts of the Midwest. As the United States incrementally and increasingly migrates away from fossil fuels as an energy source, the region has been left with a tremendous void in terms of lost economic opportunity. That is where Land Betterment comes in with it's two main divisions, Environmental Solutions and Sustainable Development,
