Sustainability in Business: A Financial Economics Analysis

This book provides an approach to sustainable decision-making rooted in financial and economic literature. Financial economic techniques have the power to frame the discussion of sustainability to explain who, how, and why sustainability is a growing phenomenon in business and investing. Financial concepts in a sustainable framework provide a theoretical basis to approach research and business questions on sustainability. The framework provides for a better understanding of the different definitions of sustainability and the role those differences have on decisions that will lead to the future of sustainable business. A future which relies on growth driven by expanding its markets’ reach (demographics), its innovation or creation of new products, and its capital structure (leverage). Third party certification and governmental regulation become the constraints on that growth as well as the proof of sustainable growth. Finally, the ability and methods for investors to support sustainable growth is addressed in a modern portfolio theory analysis.

About the Author

David Hobson Myers is an associate teaching professor at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, where he has taught Investments, Valuation, and Sustainability in Business. His research and teaching interests are centered on asset pricing and sustainable investing. Prior to joining the D'Amore-McKim faculty in 2016, David taught at Lehigh University for 16 years. His industry experience includes working for Daiwa Securities and its investment management firm in Tokyo and New York, as well as working in investment consulting in New York, Tokyo, and Seattle.