ABSTRACT
Finance professionals simply adhered to a time-honored economic dogma, behaving like perfect Homo economicus. The new paradigm is one in which finance is concerned with the general good, which it furthers by investing savings in projects that offer added social and environmental value. Actors in the world of finance alternate between extreme caution, often the watchword of large investors, who are risk-averse, which are confined to specialized units with limited impact. This explains to a great extent why Socially Responsible Investing has often been dismissed as greenwashing. Influencing corporate behavior through enhanced Corporate Social Responsibility or by financing innovative technologies certainly contributes to shaping a more positive economy. The concatenation of demographic and economic pressures has exacerbated inequalities at every level of our societies, leaving traditional financial models ill equipped to address the needs of society’s poorest members. Microfinance has experienced its share of difficulties in its growth process but it finances only a marginal portion of economic activity.
