Irrational Capital
Irrational Capital is an investment research firm quantifying the impact of corporate culture and employee motivation on financial performance. We research and design investment strategies offering exposure to the Human Capital Factor, a direct link between company culture and equity returns. Through cutting edge behavioral economic research on large (and often proprietary) data sets, Irrational Capital captures insights about a critical asset not yet efficiently reflected on a company’s balance sheet. Led by renowned behavioral economist Dan Ariely and his co-founder David van Adelsberg, we seek to transform the often-anecdotal views about the importance of corporate culture into investable and systematic strategies based on what we’ve coined the Human Capital Factor. We enable financial institutions to create investable access to the Human Capital Factor via bespoke investment strategies and financial products.

Purpose

Our core mission is to prove that doing the right thing pays by bringing the Human Capital Factor to the world. 

The Human Capital Factor applies workplace behavioral science, financial acumen and deep data science to capture the powerful connection between human capital and stock performance. By understanding company culture and intrinsic employee motivation, we are able to transform these insights into high-returning investment strategies for our partners. 

We are the first firm to quantitatively capture the lift that strong corporate culture has on a company’s stock price in an investable way. By uncovering the capital in human capital, we help create investment options that prove definitively that doing the right thing pays.

Dan Ariely

Co-Founder and Partner, Irrational Capital

Find out more

We believe it is vital to state clearly to the world the set of our beliefs about Inclusive Capitalism. As such, we start with our Statement of Guiding Principles for Inclusive Capitalism. Knowing that words alone are not enough, each of us is making a series of commitments about how we will operate our institutions so that they help achieve Inclusive Capitalism. These commitments are forward-looking statements based on current goals, expectations and assumptions, which are not guarantees of future performance. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Use

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Summary

Irrational Capital will work to show that "doing the right thing pays" when it comes to gender equality. With our partners, we will launch of an ETF tied to measurable gender equity based on the Human Capital Factor by mid-2024.

Activities & Initiatives

Irrational Capital and our partners will launch an ETF which provides exposure to companies that demonstrate gender equality in the workplace. Our research suggests workplaces with higher gender equality behavioral scores based on the Human Capital Factor correlate significantly with equity outperformance.


By selecting companies with higher gender equality behavioral scores and avoiding those with lower ones, we can deliver alpha to investors and demonstrate the potential for a positive and widespread impact on workplaces.

Measures & Targets

Irrational Capital will measure progress by tracking fund development, registration, and launch of an ETF based on gender equality with a goal of completion by mid-2024.

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Recognizing it will take alignment of all our organizations to scale impact globally, we invite you to join the movement as a Steward of Inclusive Capitalism. Together, the collective action of Council members will contribute to a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable future for all people and our planet.