One significant obstacle pension funds face is a history of failed economically targeted investments (ETIs) from the 1980s that have resulted in negative perceptions of investments in the underserved markets. In part, many of those failed investments were driven by an overly aggressive effort to achieve the social benefits first, and the market rates of return came second. To make matters worse, critics argue that ETI investments are prone to political interfer- ence (Romano 1993) and can distract pension funds from their mission. They argue that these investments are politically motivated and can be referred to as “Politically Targeted Invest- ments—PTIs,” in.
