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Tag: social economy
‘X’ Capitalism…fixing capitalism with capitalism
Below are the slides of the keynote address that I gave at the 9th Annual Social Responsibility Forum, IE Business School (Madrid, Spain). If the presentation does not load, you can find the original here.
Social Investing – from Hype to Impact?
Impact investment is blossoming. What started as a fad for idealists is gradually becoming a mainstream concept often discussed by fund management hotshots and company executives. The concept itself is certainly appealing. Investors are realising that they have the possibility to help solve some of the world’s most pressing social problems and make a profit at the same time.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the old debate of whether financial markets can become a force for social good has been rekindled. For all of the buzz around it… read more >
Much is happening in the UK and in other countries. This article focuses on the European context where the EU has set as a priority social entrepreneurship and social investment. This is building of a long tradition associated with the social economy. Steps are being taken to ease cross border social investment. Originally published by Philanthropy Impact Magazine: 6 – SUMMER / AUTUMN 2014, authored by Stephen J. Barnett, Beatriz Jambrina Canseco and Karl Richter (Euclid Network)
Osborne’s 2013 Budget for the UK – giving love a chance?
A committed fiscal conservative like UK Chancellor George Osborne was never going to deviate from Government’s hard-wired policy of austerity. Nobody really expected a change of course in his 2013 Budget, not even after his recent humiliation by Moody’s downgrade of Britain’s triple A credit rating – a humiliation not because of the fundamental impact of the downgrade, which was negligible, but because Osborne himself had placed such high importance on retaining the AAA status.
Impact Measurement – A conceptual framework
Tomorrow (5 Dec) in Brussels I will be presenting my views on the impact measurement discourse at a conference on “Measuring the Social Impact of Social Enterprises”. My approach will be to explore how to frame the discussion in the context of a market centric perspective as part of developing EngagedX – the world’s first financial index for impact investing. For the purposes of compiling an index, we are agnostic about specific metrics used and instead seek to determine a meta-framework approach for how to map and categorise the data of all metrics in use.
Social investing : fixing capitalism with capitalism
Capitalism – in its current form – has let us down. We have seen this truism manifest itself globally, from the disruptive protests of the “Occupy” movements to mainstream debates such as Capitalism in Crisis, the in-depth series that the Financial Times ran at the beginning of 2012.
#OccupyLSX camp outside London Stock Exchange/ St Paul’s Cathedral in 2011 (image digitally altered from original)
Global Impact Economy Forum. US State Dept, Washington DC, 26 & 27 April 2012
I recently went to Washington to learn about the new global impact economy being advocated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and specifically to find out whether it is aligned with social business and social investment initiatives in Europe. Indeed, there is much more commonality than disparity, and (hopefully) this is the beginning of […]
HS2: Is there veracity in the velocity?
Promoters of the new high speed rail line (HS2) between London and Birmingham claim that it will generate £2 of economic benefit for every £1 spent. The Government says the benefit will be lower, around £1.40. But if a number is the answer, then people are asking the wrong question. What is the real benefit […]
The Road Less Travelled: Social Business in Europe
Call it a new kind of capitalism. You make goods to sell to a mass market but your aim isn’t profit. Enterprises are run by workers and customers and surpluses are ploughed back to achieve social goals. Capitalism? Not as we know it. Karl H Richter, co-ordinator of the task force for a European Social […]
Karl H Richter 