Research Programmes and Themes
Our research programmes are grouped around three core areas with a suite of cross-cutting themes.
Sustainability, Financial Markets & Investment
Focused on how sustainability affects financial markets and investments. Areas of interest include: corporate social responsibility and its relation to corporate performance; sustainable investment strategies; the role of financial markets in promoting sustainable business practices; the long-term investment decision-making about pension funds.
Enterprise Management and Strategy
Considers the way in which enterprise (for profit and not-for-profit) manage their environmental footprint and liabilities as well as their relationships with shareholders and stakeholders.
Economic Policy & Markets
Looks at the design and implementation of economic policy initiatives that affect enterprise and the environment. Areas of interest include: the use of economic instruments to promote environmental quality; the role of markets in pricing externalities; and the cost effectiveness and impact of regulation designed to facilitate environmental performance.
Themes
Research themes at the Smith School include:
Natural Capital
Concerned with the use of resources like water, land and biodiversity by enterprises in the production and distribution of commodities, recognising that the quality and quality of natural capital are likely to be significantly affected by climate change, population growth and economic development. Areas of interest include: access to water; the pricing of natural capital; the eco-efficiency of production; and the accounting and management of the environmental footprints of major enterprises on a global basis.
Long-term Investment
Concerned with the structure and performance of financial institutions and markets as regards sustainable economic growth and development, recognising that innovation requires patient capital with a global reach consistent with the emerging realities of 21st century development. Areas of interest include: the theory and practice of long-term investing; the financing of development consistent with sustainability; and the tension between small-scale and large-scale financing of infrastructure in the face of population growth and technological change.
Climate change and adaptation
Making the link with recent developments in the scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change for human activity, recognising that the consequences of climate change are both global and local. Areas of interest include: the pricing of externalities; the response of insurance institutions and markets; and the role that market 'solutions' may play in promoting adaptation.