Finance for a Better World: The Shift Toward Sustainability [Hardcover]

What has prompted the shift toward sustainability in numerous financial areas? Can investors' mindsets be changed to embrace a long-term view? Can shareholders and activists play a greater role in encouraging financial actors to behave more responsibly? These are some of the relevant topics that are explored in this forward-looking set of essays.Notes on the Contributors Introduction PART I: MICROFINANCE AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT: EVOLUTION AND IMPACT ON HUMAN RIGHTS Microfinance, Financial Inclusion and Social Responsibility; I.Gu?rin, M.Roesch? & J-M.Servet Explaining the Take-Off of Socially Responsible Investment; P. Arena Socially Responsible Investment: Global Convergence or Local Divergence?; C.Louche The Use of Shareholder Proposals to Address Corporate Human Rights Performance; A.Kanzer PART II: ADOPTING A SUSTAINABLE PERSPECTIVE IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND MARKETS Sustainable Banking: The Banco Real Model; L.Johnson? & C.Scholten Insurers' Corporate Responsibility Policies: A Response to the Industry's Bad Image?; H-C. de Bettignies, F.L?pineux? & C.K.Tan The Relative Valuation of Socially Responsible Firms: An Exploratory Study; A.Fatemi, I.Fooladi?& D. Wheeler Building the Case for Long-Term Investing in Stock Markets: Breaking Free from the Short-Term Measurement Dilemma; S. Lydenberg PART III: IS A PARADIGM SHIFT UNDERWAY? THREE PIONEERING REFLECTIONS Financing Agriculture in Developing Countries: Governance Models Promoting Sustainability; S. Morvant-Roux Innovative Investments for Sustainability: Solutions for the 21st Century; A. White Financialization: Limits and Ways Out; P.Dembinski? & F.Vigano Conclusion: Manifesto of the Observatoir de la Finance References Index
HENRI-CLAUDE?DE BETTIGNIES is the EU Chair Distinguished Professor of Global Governance and China-Europe Business Relations at CEIBS, Shanghai, China,?where he has created the Euro-China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility (ECCLAR). He is lc)