Last Monday, I wrote about my indignation with the campaign to abolish plastic straws. The reason for this indignation is rooted in what researchers call moral licencing. Craig Mackenzie and Alan Lewis interviewed investors in the late 1990s about their concerns for the environment and other ethical issues and their investment habits. They found that while many of their interviewees were concerned about the environment, for example, they were unwilling to sacrifice financial return to create a more ethical investment portfolio. In reaction to this ethical dilemma, investors engaged in a core-satellite strategy, where they invested some of their money in ethical or sustainable funds and the rest in conventional funds. The allocation to ethical funds provided the investors with a licence to invest in unethical or conventional funds to achieve other goals.
We only have a limited amount of morality
We only have a limited amount of morality
We only have a limited amount of morality
Last Monday, I wrote about my indignation with the campaign to abolish plastic straws. The reason for this indignation is rooted in what researchers call moral licencing. Craig Mackenzie and Alan Lewis interviewed investors in the late 1990s about their concerns for the environment and other ethical issues and their investment habits. They found that while many of their interviewees were concerned about the environment, for example, they were unwilling to sacrifice financial return to create a more ethical investment portfolio. In reaction to this ethical dilemma, investors engaged in a core-satellite strategy, where they invested some of their money in ethical or sustainable funds and the rest in conventional funds. The allocation to ethical funds provided the investors with a licence to invest in unethical or conventional funds to achieve other goals.