ABSTRACT
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the viability, effectiveness, and social utility of the financial market system has been repeatedly questioned. In reaction to the crisis, academics, regulators, and practitioners have explored a variety of ways in which the markets can be structurally changed to avoid excessive risk taking, the widespread focus on short-term performance, self-serving behavior, and outright fraud. In fact, with ongoing revelations of fraudulent behavior such as the recent Libor and Forex market manipulations (O’Toole 2012; Vaughan et al. 2013), an increasing number of market participants are questioning the viability and social purpose of the traditional financial markets. Indeed, the old maxim of maximizing shareholder returns has broadened in scope to encompass a larger mission: one that includes achieving social and environmental objectives, alongside financial returns.
