Big professional investors are already responding by hiring their own professionals - called "buy side" analysts in Wall Street jargon - to evaluate potential investments.

It is particularly used to evaluate investments in component reliability and parts availability.

The fundamental analysis to which Mr. Burstein referred evaluates investments by looking at companies' profits, managers, industry prospects and the like.

The 16 indicators used in the latest study, the report says, provide "a powerful tool for evaluating environmental investments and improving policy results."

But if we are to create a decent and sustainable world, we must develop a way to evaluate investments and measure their complete return.

When evaluating investments, investors should estimate both the expected return and the uncertainty of future returns.

"Evaluate investments solely on their potential for future loss and future gain," it suggests.

Market corrections are occurring because for a long time money has been too cheap, and this has eroded standards for evaluating investments.

Some writers argue for an accounting concept of interest to evaluate projects and investments.

Its main customers are institutional portfolio managers seeking to evaluate prospective investments.