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Mean-Variance Stochastic Goal Programming models (MV-SGP) provide satisficing investment solutions in uncertain contexts. In this work, an MV-SGP model is proposed for portfolio selection which includes goals with regards to traditional and sustainable assets. The proposed approach is based on a two-step procedure. In the first step, sustainability and/or financial screens are applied to a set of assets (mutual funds) previously evaluated with TOPSIS to determine the opportunity set. In a second step, satisficing portfolios of assets are obtained using a Goal Programming approach. Two different goals are considered. The first goal reflects only the purely financial side of the target while the second goal is referred to the sustainable side. Aversion to Risk Absolute (ARA) coefficients are estimated and incorporated in our investment decision making approach using two different approaches.

Neighborhood characteristics increase human well-being and happiness and is becoming a key criterion for residential location decisions nowadays. This paper proposes a tool to measure neighborhood characteristics, especially those that increase its sustainability, and to rank neighborhoods based on different residents' profiles. The proposed ranking procedure, based on multiple decision criteria, combines the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with a method that assigns preference weights to different Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) profiles. In order to illustrate the suitability and properties of the proposed framework, the case of a medium-sized city in northern Spain is presented. Five different resident or family profiles are defined and the different residential locations are ranked taking into account different sustainability neighborhood criteria. The obtained relative proximity index can be interpreted as an adequacy index in terms of neighborhood quality of live and sustainability. The proposed procedure can be a very valuable tool for real estate agents, construction companies or urban planners. All of them can make different uses of the tool, either to provide a service better adapted to the client or, in the case of urban planners and managers, to make projections and evaluate alternatives or ex-ante policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social credit is a type of micro-credit aiming at fighting poverty and social inequality. Although interest in this type of credit has increased significantly over time, namely after Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, there are few studies that address the assessment of social credit applications. This is an issue to be taken seriously primarily because the objectives of social credit differ from those of other types of credit, meaning that social credit applications should not be evaluated using the same credit-scoring systems. Assuming the baseline principles of the multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach, this study combines cognitive mapping and measuring attractiveness by a categorical-based evaluation technique (MACBETH) to develop an evaluation system for social credit applications. The results show that the social-technical approach followed in this study provides value for the evaluation processes of this type of credit application as a result of the privileged contact established with a panel of credit analysts. The advantages, limitations and managerial implications of our study are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exponential increase in economic activity and high levels of consumption have hindered long-term planning and made the sustainable management across different areas more difficult. Given this context, decision problems have been complicated by an ever-greater degree of complexity, forcing decision makers to seek out new approaches and methodologies that facilitate the processes that support decision-making. MCDM and MCDA are now well-known acronyms for multiple-criteria decision-making and multiple-criteria decision analysis, respectively. Due to MCDM/A methods' exponential growth over the past few years, this special issue sought to bring together recent developments and methodological contributions within MCDM/A for economic development, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. All contributions relate to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and were selected based on the way they relate to the Agenda's sustainable development goals (SDGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]