The Milken Institute Review

When most people think about campaigns for social causes they think of organizations like Greenpeace and Amnesty International. But in the post-Enron, post-Tyco world, the most effective campaigners may well prove to be big institutional investors -- mutual funds and pension funds.

Not only do they have the money, but a reach and influence that traditional do-gooders can only dream about. When they talk, governments and corporations must listen. And, thanks in no small measure to the… more

Nearly two years after the great bull market of the 1990s sank, the debris continues to wash ashore in the form of layoffs, bankruptcies and shuttered Web sites. Among the largest casualties were once-high-flying companies that aimed to construct and manage the information superhighway. The Web-hosting giant Exodus Communications, the DSL-service provider NorthPoint Communications and the ambitious Internet network company PSINet, whose sponsorship of Baltimore's gleaming football stadium has lasted far longer than the company itself, have all… more

Glenn Hawes owns a 900-acre plot of land in California that has been in his family for three generations. He used to lease the land for cattle grazing, but recently found what may be a much more profitable undertaking: a "conservation bank" that will protect the land's natural ecosystems. Thanks to incentives created by environmental laws, the bank could one day generate handsome revenues for Hawes. He has already collected $300,000 from customers including Safeway and Wal-Mart. With time, he… more

A FINANCIAL TOOLBOX

There are at least three types of financial tools, or more aptly put, finance and policy tools, that will permit the protection and development of environmental goods and services. They are:

1) those that help protect environmental areas as providers of "public goods or services;"

2) those that help protect environmental resources as providers of "private goods or services" (as businesses); and,

3) those aimed at correcting the incentive structure to encourage… more