The Brief Quiz (No.2): How High is Your Impact IQ?

Tired of Trump tweets? Catch up on the week’s impact news with the quiz. It’s back. it’s brief. It’s The Brief Quiz.

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1. Connecticut recently invested $3 million in an indoor farming venture. Besides the tomatoes, why?

1. To keep the hedge fund set entertained
2. To stock the state with legal marijuana
3. Both of the above
4. To create jobs

Answer: d (a half-point for any other answer)

2. The World Bank committed $130 million to digital payment solutions in Pakistan. Why?

1. Because Leonardo DiCaprio said so
2. Only 10 percent of households have bank accounts
3. Pakistan has unrivaled internet connectivity
4. Pakistan adopted bitcoin as sits econd national currency

Answer: b

3. Which European country is beefing up its green bond effort?

1. Ireland, because they have green on their flag
2. Germany because they want a new flag
3. France, typically, to make everyone else green with envy
4. Italy, because it’s green with envy

Answer: d

4. A Bain & Company survey found only two percent of companies achieved their sustainability objectives. Why?

1. Because Bain is lying
2. Because companies are lying
3. Because the media is biased.
4. Because of the lack of resources, competing priorities, and insufficient incentives

Answer: d. Don’t be fooled by fake news

5. How can readers share news with ImpactAlpha?

1. By emailing [email protected]
2. By asking a friend to email [email protected] – sneaky!
3. By screaming in a dark forest and hoping someone hears you
4. Are you really still wondering?

Answer: a

6. Which former Goldman Sachs banker and leading figure of the impact investing world has joined the Trump White House?

1. Steve Bannon
2. Dina Powell
3. That other former Goldman guy 
4. That other former Goldman guy 

Answer: b

7. The London Stock Exchange released ESG guidance to its 2,700 listed companies. How long is the document?

1. 60 pages. Is that too long?
2. Three short pages (for E, S and G). People only have so much time for this stuff
3. I’ll tell you when I get to the end
4. It’s not about size, it’s about how it’s used

Answer: a, and d

8. The Northwest Area Foundation invested in 20 companies that created 1,700 well-paid jobs. What return is the foundation expecting from the Invest Northwest fund?

1. breaking even
2. 3.7 percent IRR
3. breaking the bank
4. breaking bad

Answer: a

9. What do the 20 percent of people who live in the world’s 600 largest cities generate?

1. A lot of waste!
2. Jealousy and disdain from their rural counterparts
3. 50 percent of the world’s economic output
4. All of the above

Answer: d

10. How did ImpactAlpha describe attendees of this week’s Economist Impact Investing conference in New York City?

1. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
2. Belly of the Beast, Outside Agitators, and Billion Dollar Babies
3. Fifty Shades of Green
4. Current ImpactAlpha readers, future ImpactAlpha readers

Answer: b

11. In 2016, the Asian Development Bank invested $3.7 billion to do what?

1. Build 40 new regional airports
2. Meet poverty reduction goals in Central Asia
3. Meet climate goals
4. Meet me at the usual bar

Answer: c, but I’ll be there from 10 pm tonight

12. A first social impact bond to fight homelessness was launched in South Australia. On what premise?

1. Property prices in major cities like Adelaide have skyrocketed over the past decade
2. The key to fighting homelessness, and related criminal justice, health and substance abuse issues, is to give people a permanent place to live
3. Public authorities are failing to prioritize it
4. That’s such a simplistic view. Who’s responsible for decreasing public budgets in the first place?

Answer: b

13. Demand for organic food is booming in the US. What’s the rub?

1. It’s mostly bad
2. It’s mostly produced in Canada
3. It’s increasing the divide between rich and poor
4. Still only .5 percent of American farmland is devoted to sustainable agriculture

Answer: d

14. What does Europe need to do to keep temperature rise below two degrees by 2030, according to Climate Analytics?

1. Completely phase out coal
2. Put an end to the Euro, the common currency
3. Fake it til it makes it
4. Stop calling soccer “football”

Answer: a

15. What will middle class mean in 2030?

1. Nothing, the middle class will have disappeared
2. Five billion people, but with relatively low income compared to today’s middle class
3. The year between junior and senior in high school
4. Wait 13 years and you’re likely to find out

Answer: b

16. What experiment is GiveDirectly conducting in Kenya?

1. As the name implies, direct feedback training for passive aggressive middle managers
2. As the name implies, a peer to peer donation platform for the poor
3. As the name implies, universal basic income
4. Stop it the name doesn’t imply anything

Answer: c, because it’s not always d

Better luck next week. Get a headstart with ImpactAlpha’s daily newsletter, The Brief.

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