Sustainable Investment: Consequences for Psychological Well-Being

Tommy Gärling and Magnus Jansson
Additional contact information
Tommy Gärling: Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 500, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Magnus Jansson: Gothenburg Research Institute, School of Business, Economics, and Law, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 603, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-10

Abstract: This paper sets the stage for research on sustainable investment (SI) related to psychological well-being (PWB). It recognizes the threat of current global consumption levels to exceed the planetary boundaries and asks what roles financial markets may play in reducing these threats without compromising PWB. SI integrates environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) factors alongside financial factors in investments in company shares and bonds as well as through active engagement in companies. Barriers to ESG integration include lower short-term financial performance, higher financial risks, and insufficient ESG screening by investors. A brief review of PWB shows that reliable and valid measurement methods have been developed, that the resulting measures complement economic and social national welfare indicators, and that health, sufficient material welfare, income equality, and non-material consumption are important determinants of PWB. The challenge is to globally reduce private material consumption levels in affluent countries. It is suggested that one role SI may play is in investing or actively engaging in companies that efficiently meet an increasing consumer demand of non-material consumption. Future research should address this role of SI.

Keywords: sustainable investment; psychological well-being; unsustainable consumption; conceptual analysis; review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9256/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9256/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9256-:d:616544

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().