Positive Finance: A Toolkit for Responsible Transformation

By: Hervé Guez and Philippe Zaouati

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Synopsis: For some, finance is the enemy: solely responsible for the global financial crisis and symbolic of an outdated model that is catapulting us toward social and ecological ruin. Such a view can seem tempting. The 2007-2008 meltdown of the financial system was intimately bound to the financialization of the economy and its consequences. However, in reality the crisis in finance is an indicator that our economic model is obsolete. It is possible to imagine another way, which would consist of seeing finance as a “toolkit” for building a solution to the crisis.Positive Finance presents a way to transform the economic model and reduce the ever-widening gulf of inequality, while taking into account environmental constraints. In order to achieve this, the authors argue that we must re-envision the allocation of capital in order to support social and technological innovations, to design and build sustainable infrastructure, and to finance the energy transition. Reinvented, finance could become a powerful lever for setting these transformations in motion. This book is dedicated to proving that such leverage is within reach: here, the authors present a toolkit for putting money to work in the general interest.