Research and Insights

Populist discontent with the economy has become one of the defining features of contemporary politics. Its sources are familiar: widening wealth inequality, the concentration of power in financial institutions, the erosion of community voice, and the perception that existing economic models no longer deliver security or fairness. The question is how to respond. In July, Compass, the Predistribution Initiative, Social Enterprise UK and the Fairness Foundation organised a roundtable with business leaders, cooperative advocates, policy-makers, and investment professionals to discuss alternative economic models as a promising response to rising disaffection and widespread distrust in the status quo. Read the excellent blog post by Will Snell and detailed key takeaways by Jack Jeffrey of the Fairness Foundation

In our contribution to the NYU Abu Dhabi Transition Investment Lab's annual report, in particular on the theme "Understanding Inequality as a Systemic Risk to Financial Markets and Portfolios", our Executive Director, Delilah Rothenberg, makes the case that inequality has earned its place alongside climate and nature as a defining systemic risk of our time. Modern finance has not yet developed the analytical tools that enable diversified investors to adequately factor externalized social costs into their risk-return analysis. As a result, it's increasingly unclear whether markets can facilitate the price discovery needed to reflect the true value of human, social, and natural capital.

At a time when so few people are paid a living wage and able to make ends meet, it is unlikely that wages are driving inflation. And yet that relationship sets the foundations for monetary policy, with implications for interest rates, financial stability, and whether inequality deepens or softens. If wages no longer drive inflation, what does? In this newsletter, PDI's Executive Director, Delilah Rothenberg and PDI's Head of Research, Raphaele Chape, explore other potential drivers.

Investors and other corporate stakeholders depend on strong corporate boards to reduce risk, but boards often lack the perspectives of stakeholders who are closest to the issues and emerging risks on the ground - like workers, communities, and consumers. This results in blind spots at the board level that can leave the company, society, the economy, financial markets, and investors exposed to misunderstood and mismanaged risk. In this piece, Raphaele Chappe and Delilah Rothenberg consider Boeing as a case study where the benefits of multistakeholder governance models could help reduce financially material risk to investors and life-threatening risks to consumers.

We are in the polycrisis and a time of deep uncertainty, where the reliability of predictive models based on history is being called into question, and where new ways of thinking are essential to address the complexity of interconnected systems. After six years we have a strengthened conviction that our original thesis is correct – to address the polycrisis, we must co-create solutions together with stakeholders from all walks of life. And to do this, we must address economic inequality and rising polarization.

This Playbook provides an analytical approach to advancing employee ownership (EO) across seven countries in the sub-continent, offering insights that can be adapted to other EMDEs where EO remains underutilized. The Playbook highlights the potential of EO to create more inclusive and resilient economies, particularly in emerging markets where wealth concentration and economic inequality remain pressing challenges from within and across countries. By giving workers a direct stake in the success of the businesses they help build and sustain, EO can drive long-term prosperity, improve business performance, and strengthen communities.

This paper analyses the growing disconnect between financial markets and the real economy, and asks: how can we rebalance Earth and humanity’s balance sheet? It explores the role that actors across capital markets, including investors, policymakers and regulators, can play in in building a more regenerative and inclusive economy that supports the long-term wellbeing of people and nature.

A collaboration with Impact Frontiers (IF) on the Investor Influence project (formerly named Investor Contribution 2.0) which takes an expansive view of the multifaceted ways investors shape outcomes for stakeholders and the natural environment and recommends that these considerations should be an embedded part of investors’ impact management approaches.

A recent webinar co-hosted by the manager of the UK railways pension schemes, Railpen, and the Predistribution Initiative (PDI), themed "Perspectives on Workforce Directors – Opportunities & Challenges", explored the potential and hurdles of integrating workforce directors into corporate boards.

This paper, in which the Predistribution Initiative contributed, considers the different mechanisms through which socio-economic inequality can affect financial markets and the private sector, as well as the incentives for participants interested in reducing socio-economic inequality.

As part of the Sorenson Global Impact Leaders, our Executive Director, Delilah Rothenberg contributed to the "What’s Next in Impact?" report where thought leaders and impact practitioners share suggestions on how we can work together to achieve a sustainable, resilient, and thriving future.

There has been a growing cadence of convenings, panels and publications focused on scaling investment and financing strategies to build wealth and influence for workers and communities in impactful ways across North America. These strategies include a focus on shared ownership of enterprise, shared ownership of real assets, and individual ownership of assets. This report provides key takeaways from the Ownership Lens Investing Movement virtual convening.