Measuring the performance of ethical mutual funds: a DEA approach

The ethical constraints forced on an investment fund satisfy the fulfilment of humanitarian aims but may lower the investment profitability. Hence, when we measure the performance of ethical mutual funds we cannot disregard the ethical component. In this contribution we propose a performance indicator which considers the expected return, the investment risk, the ethical component and the subscription and redemption costs together. The performance measure proposed is obtained using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, which allows to measure the relative efficiency of decision making units in presence of a multiple input-multiple output structure. The DEA performance indicator for ethical funds can be computed with different models, according to the nature of the ethical indicator which characterizes the socially responsible funds. In particular, a DEA model with exogenously fixed output variables and a categorical variable model seem appropriate.