Can You Be Good And Do Good?

Sometimes. But don't count on it when energy stocks take off.

Masaccio, The Tribute Money, fresco, 1425. Brancacci Chapel, Florence.

Can corporations be good? Sure, why not. It beats being bad, right? Is being good profitable? Yes, says the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business. No, says The Journal of Finance. A cursory and highly unscientific survey by Backbencher concludes: Sometimes. But probably not when oil stocks are red-hot. That’s the subject of my latest New Republic piece on ESG. You can read it here.