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Forum | Papers » Italian Sri funds: ethical level and pricing

Italian Sri funds: ethical level and pricing

Antonella Iannuzzi, Mariantonietta Intonti
April 2010 - n°4
Jel codes: G20, G21, G23, G24, D53, G12

In the last decade, the Socially responsible investing funds market registered, at the Italian and European level, a steady growth trend in both the number of existing funds and the entity of assets under management. On this basis, this study, after providing a theoretical framework of the characteristics and pricing of these instruments, pursues a twofold objective: it aims to check, first the level of ethical behaviour in Italian Sri funds by applying a model of ethical rating, secondly to analyse the relations of interdependence between the level of ethicality of these funds and their pricing, synthesized by a new cost indicator. The study shows, first, that the process of ethical management does not affect the overall price of the instrument, second, that the ethical funds are less expensive than traditional ones.This means that pricing is a distinctive feature of these financial instruments as well as a strategic driver to promote them on the market.