This is the first of three volumes containing a report from the International Panel on Social Progress. The IPSP is an independent association of top research scholars with the goal of assessing methods for improving the main institutions of modern societies. Written in accessible language by scholars across the social sciences and humanities, these volumes assess the achievements of world societies in past centuries, the current trends, the dangers that we are now facing, and the possible futures in (...) the twenty-first century. It covers the main socio-economic, political, and cultural dimensions of social progress, global as well as regional issues, and the diversity of challenges and their interplay around the world. This particular volume covers topics such as economic inequality and growth, finance and corporations, labor, capitalism, and social justice. (shrink)

This special section explores the intersection of social finance and financial innovation in contemporary technologies of relational finance. The articles that follow study detailed cases of contemporary experiments in payments, money and credit-debt relations. By way of introduction, in this short piece we outline three paradoxes at the heart of these experiments: the feudal life of capitalist financial innovation; the social life of supposedly asocial crypto-currencies; and the market life of relational financial dissent.

In recent years social financiers have been increasingly investing in alternative food systems to improve sustainability outcomes. However, social finance for alternative food systems remains small and marginalized. This article seeks to understand why this approach is not yet making a larger impact towards food system transformation. It does so by investigating a specific application of social finance through the case of Slow Money to get answers as to why social finance occupies a (...) niche role in food system transformation. These answers provide helpful lessons for Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) seeking to transform food systems towards greater sustainability. This study tracks the intended impacts of these initiatives and provides insights about the potential role of social finance for promoting AFNs. Key themes emerged regarding the ability of social financing initiatives to support AFNs and transform the food system for greater sustainability. These themes resonate with the literature on AFNs in meaningful ways, but also highlight an important contradiction between systemic change and individual action. The findings show that the Slow Money model contains some useful elements for radical transformation but is ultimately limited in its ability to support deeper, transformative change. The conclusion advances recommendations for ways of enhancing the transformative potential of community financing initiatives in light of the findings, emphasizing the role of public investments. (shrink)

In recent years, a significant revolution has begun in social entrepreneurship, with public funding organizations and private investors beginning to pursue social purpose. At the heart of the revolution is the ambition of these entities to use innovation and entrepreneurship to sustain and scale impacts in support of social and environmental objectives. This article provides a framework that conceptualizes social innovation and finance as a multi-level and evolving complex system. Two trajectories of transformation, niche-regime and (...) within-regime, are used to frame a broad range of examples of impact entrepreneurship and social financing. Social finance is viewed as the key to release the ‘lock-in’ of social innovation, as it is able to gather and coordinate capital, resources, knowledge and ability. Using meta-analysis, the article explores the characteristics, dynamics and ecosystem of social innovation, impact entrepreneurship in China. The study maps the landscape of social finance in China and estimates there are untapped social finance opportunities worth from US$93 to US$208 billion. (shrink)

Finance is grease to the economy. Therefore, we assume that it may affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the sustainability of economic development too. This paper discusses the transmission mechanisms between finance and sustainability. We find that there is no simple one-to-one relationship between financial development and sustainable development but there are various – often indirect – linkages. It appears that most of the literature concentrates on the role of public shareholders when it comes to changing corporate (...) policy and performance in a more sustainable direction. However, this focus neglects the potential impact of the credit channel and private equity on a firm’s non-financial policies and performance. These very powerful mechanisms can govern business policies and practices. Therefore, there appears to be much more scope for finance to promote socially and environmentally desirable activities and to discourage detrimental activities than has been acknowledged in the academic literature so far. (shrink)

This paper examines the rise of socially responsible investment (SRI) as a sustainable finance mechanism and discusses the potential of SRI to contribute toward a more socially responsible and environmentally sound model of commerce in the Asia-Pacific region. Using a case study approach, I argue in this paper that the potential of SRI to accelerate the private sector toward greater sustainability has been to date largely explored within the North American and European regional contexts and that the future global (...) development of SRI is likely to depend on whether and to what degree SRI becomes a viable financial instrument in industrialized (Japan) and emerging (Hong Kong/China) economies of the Asia-Pacific region. (shrink)

In Mexico, the management of public resources has been questioned by the State, and mainly the results that the public administration at its three levels (federal, state and municipal), by the lack of transparency in the application and verification of public resources. The experience that gives us the operation of different emerging programs that focused on reducing social and economic inequality in the country, we can locate them as the first attempts in the search for a solution that is (...) complex. Moving from the role of the benefactor and welfare state to the promoter of the regions and in the recognition of the focalization of priority attention areas, the path that has been taken is not only the beginning. Recognizing the public nature of public finances as a promoter of social development, we must understand it as the one assumed by the State through social, political and economic co-responsibility to solve poverty and marginalization of its own public policy orientation and vision of solution has been made since the eighties. From the above, we can point out some preliminary conclusions including the study of the indigenous language-speaking population with a high level of social exclusion in the methodology for the definition of multidimensional poverty in Mexico, will allow the allocation of public resources in the fight against poverty to be effective since it will make it possible to identify to the target population that is subject to social exclusion and marginalization. This invites us to a final reflection: What to do to address the just social demands of the indigenous population that is immersed in poverty, marginalization and exclusion? What to do so that they do not leave their communities, and if they have already done so, how to attend to the needs of family groups that are due to the expense of a remittance that may never arrive? (shrink)

This study discusses how social movements can influence economic systems. Employing a political-cultural approach to markets, it purports that 'compromise movements' can help change existing institutions by proposing new ones. This study argues in favor of the role of social movements in reforming economic institutions. More precisely, Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) movements can help bring SRI concerns into financial institutions. A study of how the French SRI movement has been able to change entrenched institutional logics of the French (...) asset management sector provides wide-ranging support for these arguments. Empirical findings are drawn from a longitudinal case study (1997-2009), based on participative observation, interviews and documentary evidence. Implications for research on social movements, institutional change and SRI are outlined. Lastly, the study provides practitioners with some theoretical keys to understand the pros and cons of 'SRI labels'. (shrink)

This article aims at showing the similarities between the financial and the tech sectors in their use and reliance on information and algorithms and how such dependency affects their attitude towards regulation. Drawing on Pasquale’s recommendations for reform, it sets out a proposal for a constant and independent scrutiny of internet service providers.

In the wake of successive crises, novel politics and ethics are emerging around attempts to institute a ‘new’ world of finance in the name of social relations. Financial start-ups and development organizations, often working alongside established financial institutions, are experimenting with the ‘social’ in order to create markets and scale up their activities. At the same time, people continue to advance social claims in finance out of concern for others. This article examines the rise, politics (...) and ethics of this experimentation in what we call ‘relational finance’. Our argument is that by rendering the social dimensions of finance explicit, contemporary relational finance makes sociality available for marketization and politicization. We illustrate this claim with three examples of mobilizations of the social in everyday lending and borrowing: social collateral, social lending and social debt. Relational finance, we conclude, is far from an unproblematic ‘alternative’ but retains ethical and political potential. (shrink)

What does socially responsible investing (SRI) accomplish for investors and for society? Proponents of SRI claim that the practiceyields competitive portfolio returns for investors, while at the same time achieving better outcomes for society at large. Skepticsview SRI as ineffective at best and ill-conceived marketing hype at worst. My objective in this paper is to apply mainstream finance research findings to the question of whether SRI may be expected to lead to superior social outcomes. I conclude that under (...) the perfectmarkets assumptions underlying most finance theory, SRI will not affect social outcomes. However, given well documented imperfections in equity markets, the claim that SRI “makes a difference” to society is a reasonable one that is consistent with current theoretical and empirical research in finance. (shrink)

This article suggests that Facebook embodies a new logic of capitalist governance, what has been termed the ‘social logic of the derivative’. The logic of the derivative is rooted in the now dominant financial level of the capitalist economy, and is mediated by social media and the algorithmic processing of large digital data sets. This article makes three precise claims: First, that the modus operandi of Facebook mirrors the operations of derivative financial instruments. Second, that the algorithms that (...) Facebook uses share a genealogy with those of derivative financial instruments – both are outcomes of the influence of the ‘cyber sciences’ on managerial practice in the post-war years. Third, that the future potential of Facebook lies in its ability to apply the logic of derivatives to the financial valuation of ordinary social relations, thus further extending the process of financialization of everyday life. (shrink)

The study constructs a theoretical model of social capital, farm household financing, and scale operation and their environmental effects, and conducts an empirical test based on data from China Family Panel Studies which is conducted in 2018 using causal mediation analysis. The results showed that farmers who spent more on human interaction have a higher probability of choosing scale operation by renting land, the mechanism of which is that the social capital accumulated by farmers based on human interaction (...) facilitates their access to formal and informal financing, which in turn alleviates the financing constraint of scale operation. In addition, we found that the farmers with low education were more dependent on social capital to obtain informal financing to achieve scale operation. The environmental effects of scale operation found that the farmers significantly reduced the proportion of fertilizer and pesticide use, which could effectively mitigate possible pollution problems caused by excessive fertilizer and pesticide use. These findings confirm that social capital can alleviate the financing constraints of farmers to expand their operation scale through formal and informal financing, which in turn has a positive environmental effect. (shrink)

’Although the empirical and conceptual underpinnings of New Finance have been rigorously tested, its ethical underpinnings have not been explored.’These are seen to derive from the social remoteness of late twentieth century individualism, which needs to be countered by sensitivity to the social context of finance and to the developmental nature of ethical behaviour. The author is Fellow in Finance at Templeton College, Oxford.

The recently rising field of Critical Data Studies is still facing fundamental questions. Among these is the enigma of digital subjectivation. Who are the subjects of Big Data? A field where this question is particularly pressing is finance. Since the 1990s traders have been steadily integrated into computerized data assemblages, which calls for an ontology that eliminates the distinction between human sovereign subjects and non-human instrumental objects. The latter subjectivize traders in pre-conscious ways, because human consciousness runs too slow (...) to follow the volatility of the market. In response to this conundrum Social Studies of Finance has drawn on Actor-Network Theory to interpret financial markets as technically constructed networks of human and non-human actors. I argue that in order to develop an explicitly critical data study it might be advantageous to refer to Maurizio Lazzarato’s theory of machinic subjugation instead. Although both accounts describe financial digital subjectivation similarly, Lazzarato has the advantage of coupling his description to a clear critique of and resistance to finance. (shrink)

This article explains how the private equity-leveraged buyout type of financial institution (PE-LBO) operates as a form of finance capitalism. PE-LBO capitalism is described and compared with other types of capitalism such as family business capitalism, managerial capitalism, and other forms of finance capitalism such as shareholder value capitalism. Ethical and social issues structurally related to the PE-LBO form are analyzed. Potential reforms and/or solutions are considered.

This article explains how the private equity-leveraged buyout type of financial institution operates as a form of finance capitalism. PE-LBO capitalism is described and compared with other types of capitalism such as family business capitalism, managerial capitalism, and other forms of finance capitalism such as shareholder value capitalism. Ethical and social issues structurally related to the PE-LBO form are analyzed. Potential reforms and/or solutions are considered.

Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer’s A Crisis of Beliefs is a rich, elaborate and ambitious book. It relies on more than twenty years of the authors’ work on fields as different as financial econ...

Islamic finance has experienced considerable growth worldwide interms of deposits and assets of Islamic banks over the last 40 years, but showslittle signs of achieving maturity. Almost all Islamic finance products currentlyis use are mere replicas of their conventional counterparts. This study followsthe archival research strategy of Bryman, and analyses the literatureon Islamic finance theory and products and practices in order to ascertainthe reforms needed for the maturity goal. The paper proposes adoption ofa new law regarding money, (...) different policy approaches, new structures offinance for shifting to risk-based financing, new models, procedures and somefresh thought in order to relate banking and finance to the real economy. Itrecommends a leading role for Islamic economists for effective reforms in themonetary and credit system in order to ensure that all financing is based ongoods, services, stocks or securities representing real assets in line withthe Shariʽah principles. The suggested policy measures are expected to leadto social inclusion and harmony in the interests of all stakeholders in businessand finance transactions. (shrink)

L'espace économique s'est profondément modifié au cours des vingt dernières années en raison, bien sûr, de la mondialisation, niais aussi de la déréglementation de nombreuses économies parmi les plus influentes du monde. D'une économie empirique de travail, nous sommes ainsi passés à une économie virtuelle de spéculation avec, à la clé, un recul de l'éthique au profit de logiques financières. C'est pour contrer les effets néfastes de cette financiarisation de l'économie que le mouvement de la finance socialement responsable s'est (...) développé, ses tenants utilisant les leviers économiques, en l'occurrence de nombreux fonds de placement, pour faire pression sur les décideurs et les orienter vers des avenues plus responsables. Ce livre présente le regard d'un philosophe et d'une sociologue sur ce mouvement. Les auteurs définissent les origines de la finance socialement responsable, pour ensuite exposer ses pratiques et ses stratégies, dresser un portrait de ses principaux acteurs et proposer des pistes de réflexion sur la dimension éthique de la finance ainsi que des outils pertinents aux pratiques des financiers. Il s'agit d'une introduction indispensable à tous ceux qui souhaitent s'initier au mouvement de la finance socialement responsable et qui recherchent des avenues éthiques en matière de développement économique. (shrink)

The shareholder wealth maximization objective for corporate management can be a very effective tool for decision making. However, it can also be used to rationalize the commission of unethical or socially irresponsible actions. Overemphasis on the SWM objective by some companies can lead to dangerous or disastrous consequences for consumers, employees, or the general population. Even so, issues of business ethics and social responsibility (BE-SR) are almost totally ignored in corporate finance textbooks. If the typical coverage of corporate (...) finance courses is represented by these textbooks, then financial educators are abdicating their responsibility to help prepare future corporate managers to recognize and deal with BE-SR issues effectively. (shrink)

Devant des enjeux économiques et écologiques majeurs, les sociétés comme le Québec font face aujourd’hui à une exigence forte de transition écolo­gique de leurs structures économiques et énergétiques. Parmi l’ensemble des ques­tions d’ordre pratique soulevées par cette transition, celle qui a trait à son financement est l’une des plus épineuses. Dans le contexte actuel, où les finances publiques sont exsangues et où les fonctions économiques de l’État sont en redé­finition, des innovations permettant de mobiliser l’épargne capitalisée dans les fonds privés (...) seront vraisemblablement appelées à contribuer à la transition qui s’amorce. Ces innovations, qui peuvent tirer profit des apports de la finance res­ponsable, sont basées sur un élargissement de l’horizon d’investissement, tant sur la durée que sur le processus d’analyse des choix de placement. Cet élargissement des perspectives permet aux épargnants et aux gestionnaires de fonds de reconsi­dérer les externalités importantes d’un modèle de croissance à haute intensité carbonique et de soutenir la transition écologique. (shrink)

The need to examine the efficiency of state financing of universities is becoming more important for a number of reasons. The growth in the social demand for higher education, the globalization and internationalization of the higher education system, the recognition of the need to improve the quality of studies coincide with the financing aspects of activities of higher education institutions. The object of the research is to analyze the financing models and state funding methods of the higher education system (...) and to disclose the advantages as well as dysfunctions of each conception. This paper examines the mechanisms through which governments allocate resources to higher education in order to establish effective means to transfer these subsidies to institutions. (shrink)

Green finance plays a crucial bridge as an intermediary between finance and the environment, facilitating resource allocation. The disclosure of environmental information (EID) is vital for promoting sustainable economic development. This study utilizes panel data covering the period from 2012 to 2019, focusing on Chinese companies listed in high-polluting industries. The findings demonstrate that green finance policies have a significant positive impact on EID, while increased managerial power has a detrimental effect. However, green finance policies can (...) mitigate the negative consequences arising from moral hazard and adverse selection resulting from managerial power. They enhance the quality of EID by restricting long-term loan resources for polluting entities. The heterogeneity test reveals that the effectiveness of green finance policies in promoting EID varies across different regions of China. In non-state-owned companies, green finance policies are more effective in constraining managerial power. The moderating effect of green finance on managerial power is weakened by improvements in internal control. Green financing can offset the adverse impact of managerial power on EID when debt levels are high. Our research plays a crucial role in advancing micro-academic studies in the field of green finance. By strengthening internal controls for corporate managers and promoting EID policies, we provide essential support and guidance to decision-makers. (shrink)

This article extends the critique of finance to money itself. It argues that our understanding of money has been distorted by a series of myths about its origin and nature, in particular, the claim that money emerged from the adoption of precious metal coinage in market systems. These myths obscure the social and political history of money and the role of states in money creation and circulation. Neoliberal ideology, by contrast, adopts a “handbag economics” that treats the state (...) as a dependent household rather than an economic actor in its own right. An alternative view of money is put forward that sees money as a social and political construct and not just a passive reflection of market activity. It is argued that the sovereign power to create money should be recognized, reclaimed, and democratized as a public resource. (shrink)

The financial services sector has the potential to be an important driver for improved corporate social and environmental responsibility through its control over corporate financing. But, so far, only ad hoc policy initiatives have arisen in the European Union and other countries. Because the financial services sector is where wholesale decisions regarding future development, and thus pressures on the environment, arise, the reform of investment and banking services to promote long term investment and better consideration of environmental impacts may (...) be an effective way to promote sustainable development. Reforms such as corporate environmental reporting requirements and lender liability for borrowers’ environmental harm, are some of the ways by which an institutional framework for mobilising financial organizations as instruments of environmental regulation could be constructed. (shrink)

Built environments, and social and legal interactions through them, are powerfully shaped by the arrangements by which their making and remaking are financed. There is a rich literature analysing shifts towards private and/or offshore financing of infrastructure in broad terms and their implications for governmental accountability and so-called public interest values. At the level of mundane regulatory decision and technique, however, the ways in which governance may be affected by such financing arrangements have not been well mapped. The article (...) considers some governance implications of the practice of funding urban infrastructure projects by recourse to global financial markets. It focuses, in particular, upon how regulatory decision-making may be shaped by technical practices of financial deal-making, financial modelling and related re-configurations of institutional or jurisdictional space. These implications are explored by reference to some recent examples of urban toll-road financing in Sydney, Australia and decision-making and analysis surrounding those examples. As such, it joins with other recent scholarship in probing political dimensions of technical forms of knowledge and practice that have frequently fallen between the cracks of legal scholarship's interdisciplinary inquiries to date. (shrink)

One of the least studied aspects of programs of reparation, both in theory and in practice, is financing. This is odd given the fact that mobilizing resources, both domestic and foreign, is politically one of the most difficult tasks any society can undertake. This paper centers on the subject of financing reparation programs and attempts to answer the following questions: Which factors play a role in the process of mobilizing domestic and foreign resources to finance reparations? Is financing solely (...) a technical-economic problem, or does it involve political, social, and cultural factors? Why do governments prefer financing social programs instead of programs of reparation? How do the proposals made by truth commissions regarding financing affect the viability of programs of reparation? Which factors explain the efficacy of financing models of reparation programs? In order to address these questions, the paper has been divided into three main sections. In the first, programs of reparation are analyzed from the perspective of political economy, which means that both economic and non-economic factors that influence the mobilization of domestic and foreign resources by a transitional society are taken into consideration. The second section focuses on international experiences in the area of financing programs of reparation, with the purpose of extracting some lessons. The third section presents the main conclusions of the study. (shrink)

One of the least studied aspects of programs of reparation, both in theory and in practice, is financing. This is odd given the fact that mobilizing resources, both domestic and foreign, is politically one of the most difficult tasks any society can undertake. This paper centers on the subject of financing reparation programs and attempts to answer the following questions: Which factors play a role in the process of mobilizing domestic and foreign resources to finance reparations? Is financing solely (...) a technical-economic problem, or does it involve political, social, and cultural factors? Why do governments prefer financing social programs instead of programs of reparation? How do the proposals made by truth commissions regarding financing affect the viability of programs of reparation? Which factors explain the efficacy of financing models of reparation programs? In order to address these questions, the paper has been divided into three main sections. In the first, programs of reparation are analyzed from the perspective of political economy, which means that both economic and non-economic factors that influence the mobilization of domestic and foreign resources by a transitional society are taken into consideration. The second section focuses on international experiences in the area of financing programs of reparation, with the purpose of extracting some lessons. The third section presents the main conclusions of the study. (shrink)

Public comments criticizing the honesty and trustworthiness of Professionals in Finance (PIFs) are commonly seen as a way to motivate them towards engaging in more socially responsible business practices. However, the link between public views of this professional group, the self-views of individual group members, and their motivation to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities has not been empirically examined. In this research, we draw on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and the Behavioral Regulation Model for (...) class='Hi'>social evaluation (BRM) to examine how the self-views of individual group members relate to perceived characteristics of their professional group, indicating Competence and Morality. In two studies (N = 123, 191) we examined whether the self-views of high-profile and general PIFs are affected by other people's perceptions of the honesty and trustworthiness of this professional group. The results offer support for our reasoning derived from SIT and the BRM. In both studies, we first demonstrate that public concerns about the group's lack of honesty and trustworthiness impact on the moral self-views of financial professionals. Subsequently, we employ an experimental design to reveal that reinforcing moral criticism leveled at the group only reduces the motivation of individual group members to engage in CSR activities, while group-level moral affirmation enhances this motivation. The results of both studies converge to demonstrate how public critique on the moral behavior of their professional group relates to the self-views and behavioral motives of PIFs. We consider the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (shrink)

La finance peut-elle être au service de l'homme? Les cyniques diront que, si cela arrive, c'est involontairement. L'image de la finance est celle d'organismes froids, uniquement motivés par le gain. La crise de 2008 a jeté un coup de projecteur violent sur des pratiques contestables et collectivement nuisibles. Est-ce là toute la réalité de la finance? Est-ce une fatalité? La finance a un rôle central dans nos économies. Une finance au service de l'homme, et non (...) pas centrée sur elle-même, serait évidemment un idéal. Peut-on cependant avoir une finance orientée dans le bon sens sans se référer aux valeurs qui animent une société? Et que signifie être au service de l'homme, sinon avoir une conception définie du bien, et donc une forme de morale ou d'éthique? Ethique et finance : c'est par là qu'il faut commencer l'examen. Pour examiner la question de la façon la plus concrète possible, l'auteur aborde aussi la question de la banque et des marchés financiers, sans oublier la finance publique, et même le rôle du don. Un ouvrage indispensable pour comprendre l'articulation de la régulation des marchés et de l'éthique personnelle et une claire démonstration des conditions indispensables pour prétendre à la possibilité d'une finance au service de l'homme. (shrink)

The United States, unlike all other industrialized nations, does not have a comprehensive public system for financing health care. Nevertheless, the magnitude of America's public health care financing effort is remarkable. Of the one trillion dollars the United States spent on health care in 1996, almost half, $483.1 billion, was spent by public programs. In 1995, Medicare—our social insurance program for persons over sixty-five and the long-term disabled—overed 37.5 million Americans; Medicaid—our program for indigent elderly and disabled persons and (...) indigent children and their families—covered 36.3 million. In 1996, Medicare and Medicaid spent $203.1 and $147.7 billion, respectively. The payment policies of these massive public health care programs have a profound effect on the provision of health care.Many of the recipients of Medicare and Medicaid suffer pain. In 1994, 376,200 Americans over age sixty-five died of cancer. Virtually all of these would have been Medicare recipients, and as many as 70 percent of them died in unrelieved pain. Nearly four million Americans over sixty-five endured the pain of inpatient surgery in 1995, again nearly all of whom were Medicare recipients. (shrink)

The United States, unlike all other industrialized nations, does not have a comprehensive public system for financing health care. Nevertheless, the magnitude of America's public health care financing effort is remarkable. Of the one trillion dollars the United States spent on health care in 1996, almost half, $483.1 billion, was spent by public programs. In 1995, Medicare—our social insurance program for persons over sixty-five and the long-term disabled—overed 37.5 million Americans; Medicaid—our program for indigent elderly and disabled persons and (...) indigent children and their families—covered 36.3 million. In 1996, Medicare and Medicaid spent $203.1 and $147.7 billion, respectively. The payment policies of these massive public health care programs have a profound effect on the provision of health care.Many of the recipients of Medicare and Medicaid suffer pain. In 1994, 376,200 Americans over age sixty-five died of cancer. Virtually all of these would have been Medicare recipients, and as many as 70 percent of them died in unrelieved pain. Nearly four million Americans over sixty-five endured the pain of inpatient surgery in 1995, again nearly all of whom were Medicare recipients. (shrink)

Cognitive niche construction theory provides a new comprehensive account for the development of human cultural and social organization with respect to the management of their environment. Cognitive niche construction can be seen as a way of lessening complexity and unpredictability of a given environment. In this paper, we are going to analyze economic systems as highly technological cognitive niches, and individuate a link between cognitive niche construction, unpredictability and a particular kind of economic crises.

There is great diversity in in vitro fertilization (IVF) funding and reimbursement policies and practice throughout Europe and the rest of the world. While many existing reimbursement and regulatory frameworks address safety and legal concerns, economic factors also assume a central role. However, there are several problems with the evidence that is available on the economics of IVF. This suggests there is a need for more robust cost-effectiveness studies. It also indicates the need for alternative rationales to justify the reimbursement (...) of IVF, which might more fully account for the social, political, ethical, and philosophical considerations embedded in notions of infertility and technology-driven reproductive treatments. The merits and limitations of five alternative rationales are discussed. The review suggests that while no existing single rationale provides a complete framework with which to support funding decisions, taken together they provide guideposts which signal important issues for consideration and highlight where further research, action, and debate are needed. (shrink)

Over the past decade, investments in agricultural and food technology startups have grown to previously unknown dimensions. Mushrooming agri-food tech startups that promise to solve critical issues in the agri-food system through technological innovation are increasingly perceived as an attractive new investment opportunity for venture capitalists and investors. This paper investigates how digital agri-food technologies are narrated, constructed, and promoted for financial investment. Through qualitative content analysis of agri-food tech industry reports, articles, and commentaries we trace the logic, rationales, and (...) narratives of this most recent investment rush, and reveal its immanent techno-finance fixes. We conceptualize the agri-food imaginaries produced within the agri-food tech discourse as financialized imaginaries, and argue that they are specifically tailored to construct, incentivize, and legitimize this new agri-food tech space for financial investment. In their attempt to raise money from investors, venture capital firms further fuel this development by discursively creating an ‘agri-food tech investment rush’—similar to the land and gold rushes of the past. Investments in agri-food tech startups, however, are presented to investors as both a profitable investment opportunity as well as a moral obligation, allowing for food production to cope with neo-malthusian and environmental threats. This paper contributes to our understanding of digitization as a socio-technical project, which includes the active envisioning and promotion of desirable agri-food futures. (shrink)

There has recently been much debate about the idea of levying a tax on particular transactions on international financial markets. Economists have argued about how much revenue such an international financial transaction tax would raise and they disagree about what effects it would have on trade volumes, financial stability, and overall growth. Politicians have argued about the feasibility of introducing such a tax internationally and they disagree on its adequacy as a policy response to the current financial and economic crisis. (...) This article contributes to the debate about international financial transaction taxation by bringing the perspective of political philosophy to bear on the politicians’ and economists’ arguments about policy. I shall outline a framework for thinking about justice in finance, and defend the idea of an international financial transaction tax as an instrument for making the international financial system more just. (shrink)

Dans cet article, nous analysons comment et dans quelle mesure les changements dans les modalités d’allocation des financements publics génèrent des transformations dans les pratiques, les temporalités et l’organisation de la recherche en histoire. Face aux deux thèses qui s’affrontent autour de cette problématique, l’une soutenant l’hypothèse de la déprofessionnalisation et de la perte d’autonomie des chercheurs, et l’autre celle d’une recomposition de la profession académique, le travail d’enquête réalisé dans trois laboratoires d’histoire en France montre qu’il n’y a pas (...) de modèle unique d’adaptation des équipes et des chercheurs par rapport à la montée en puissance des financements sur projet (FSP). La prise en compte du niveau organisationnel, avec ses spécificités contextuelles, se révèle essentielle pour saisir les modalités d’ajustement des laboratoires et des chercheurs face au renforcement des mécanismes de contractualisation. Par ailleurs, contrairement aux disciplines nécessitant des dispositifs expérimentaux coûteux, le niveau plus modeste des ressources mobilisées pour la conduite des recherches en histoire permet plus facilement aux historiens d’adopter une position de repli face aux FSP. Cette posture est également renforcée par le système de reconnaissance de la qualité académique propre au champ historiographique qui accorde une importance particulière au travail individuel et à l’investissement de longue durée. (shrink)

Education has long been recognized as a central element in development. The human capital formation is receiving increased attention from policy makers and scholars in different parts of the world particularly in developing countries. Eritrea is a newly born nation in Africa and is striving hard to develop its higher education. An attempt is made in this paper to analyze the sources of finance, the strategies and challenges for higher educational development in the country. Furthermore, the paper also delves (...) the development of higher education in the country since independence. The paper provides some implications for the for the policy purpose to develop higher education so as to curb the use of expatriate manpower in different sectors of the economy. (shrink)

This article argues that popular revolution was closely tied to the establishment of capitalism. Contrary to the revisionist George V. Taylor’s view that the Revolution had nothing to do with the advance of capitalism because financial and productive capital were divided from one another, this article contends that the Revolution played a critical role in tying them together. Prior to the Revolution financiers began to make limited investments in wholesale trade, manufacturing and mining. But during the revolutionary crisis the sans-culottes (...) pushed the Jacobins to create a national money and to curb speculation in order to foster production and exchange and reduce unemployment. With speculative activity blocked by popular resistance and state interference, bankers and other capitalists increasingly turned to productive investments and forged a link between financial and productive capital which proved crucial to further capitalist accumulation. (shrink)

La conjoncture historique qui a vu naître le capitalisme cognitif trouve son origine dans une transformation radicale du rapport capital/travail. À la suite de cette transformation, l'ensemble des normes fordistes-industrielles qui ont structuré l'organisation sociale de la production, la valorisation du capital ainsi que la répartition du revenu entre salaire, rente et profit, en sont sorties profondément modifiées. C'est pourquoi, dans cette majeure, nous avons tenté d'établir un état des lieux de l'avancement de la recherche autour de questions cruciales, celles (...) en particulier qui nous mènent à nous interroger sur les relations entre la montée de la dimension cognitive et immatérielle du travail, d'une part, et l'essor d'une économie de rente, d'autre part. Le développement du capitalisme cognitif est en fait allé de pair avec un puissant processus de financiarisation de l'économie ; il s'est aussi, plus généralement, accompagné d'une multiplication des formes de la rente. Cette évolution du capitalisme contemporain est souvent interprétée à travers une grille de lecture de type néo-ricardien qui tend à opposer le ' bon ' capitalisme productif de l'âge d'or du fordisme au ' mauvais ' capitalisme rentier de ' l'actuel régime de croissance financiarisé '. Selon cette approche, c'est notamment le pouvoir de la finance qui, en établissant de nouvelles règles de gouvernance des firmes, aurait été le facteur premier de la crise de la régulation fordiste du rapport salarial et de la fin des politiques de plein-emploi. Aussi dans ce numéro l'idée est-elle de prendre à contre-pied ce schéma d'analyse en partant du rôle moteur des transformations de l'organisation sociale du travail, pour comprendre, à la lumière de la thèse du capitalisme cognitif, l'essor de la finance et le retour en force de la rente. Nous essaierons aussi d'identifier sur cette base les processus de recomposition sociale susceptibles d'entraver la logique de la rente et d'impulser un processus de réappropriation du commun. (shrink)

The funding of higher education is under stress. On the one hand, the benefits of universities for economic prosperity and growth are increasing as universities graduate more students; undertake a greater share of scientific research; and, through cooperation with business, stimulate the technological advance of the private sector. At the same time, government funding of higher education is stagnating or even falling in many countries. The book brings together the views of an international group of experts on the financing of (...) higher education. They examine funding trends in Asia, Europe and the United States and present practical proposals for the reform of university funding and operations and examples of successful ways of building links between industry and universities that can be mutually beneficial and supplement government funding of higher education. (shrink)

The rapidly declining biosphere integrity, representing one of the core planetary boundaries, is alarming. One of the most widely accepted measures to halt the rate of biodiversity loss is to maintain and expand protected areas that are effectively managed. However, it requires substantial finance derived from nature-based tourism, specifically visitors from urban areas. Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) on 535 Vietnamese urban residents, the current study examined how their biodiversity loss perceptions can affect their willingness to pay for (...) the entrance fee and conservation in protected areas. We found that perceived environmental degradation, loss of economic growth, loss of nature-based recreation opportunity, and loss of knowledge as consequences of biodiversity loss has indirect effects on paying willingness through the mediation of the attitude towards conservation. Especially, the perceived knowledge loss also has a direct positive influence on the willingness to pay for the entrance fee and conservation. In contrast, perceived loss of health is negatively associated with the attitude towards conservation. Based on these findings, we suggest that building an eco-surplus culture among urban residents can be a promising way to generate more finance from nature-based tourism for conservation in protected areas and ease the domestic government's and international organizations' funding allocations problems. (shrink)

This paper develops an ethical framework for responsible finance and then applies it to Citigroup (Citi), a major financial actor in the microfinance sector, to see whether it meets with such obligations. The framework consists of two categories of responsibility. The first category is the special social responsibility of financial institutions; and the second is the fundamental principles of ethical behavior in financial services. From Citigroup’s microfinance model, scope of business, and multiple roles in the market, the company (...) seems to be fulfilling its responsibility in inclusive finance. However, judged in term of the principles of integrity, objectivity, fairness, professionalism, and diligence, it falls short of its ethical responsibility. In view of this shortcoming, Citigroup should recall its obligation to avoid conflicts of interest, to provide responsible advice, to protect clients from over-indebtedness, and most importantly, to act with integrity. (shrink)