Finance, Society and Sustainability

How to Make the Financial System Work for the Economy, People and Planet
Nick Silver
8 September 2017
£26.99 | $29.99 | Hardcover | 978-1-137-56060-5

Financialization has grown rapidly in countries such as the UK and US since the 1970s, but not without consequence. This book exposes the corrosive impact of the financial system on the economy, society and the natural environment. Nick Silver proposes a plan to reinvent finance to deliver the products and services that the economy needs to operate, and in turn deliver a flourishing, sustainable society.

In Finance, Society and Sustainability, actuary and economist Nick Silver argues that the financial system is a construct of flawed economic theories, designed in the hope that the market will efficiently allocate society’s capital. He illustrates how, instead, the finance sector allocates savings and investment to maximize its own revenues, with resulting collateral damage to the economy, society and environment.

Silver shows how the financial system causes inequality and debt, encourages short-term behaviour and is a block to how we need to transform the economy to avoid impending environmental and societal crisis. He argues that because government and society created this system, they have every right to take it apart and set up a financial system which does what society wants and needs.

The book outlines how transforming the global economy into a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy will require a new, global industrial revolution much greater in size than previous industrial revolutions. Although governments actively work to preserve and regulate the existing system, it is already being replaced by a new system driven by technological innovation. The book describes the opportunities this presents for a renaissance of the financial system to actually meet the needs of society, and to re-engineer our economy to avoid environmental crisis.

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About the Author

Nick Silver is an actuary and economist whose expertise includes pensions and insurance, risk management and sustainable finance, in particular working in developing economies. He is managing director of Callund Consulting Limited which for 40 years has advised governments on pensions, social protection and developing capital markets. Nick is a founder and director of Climate Bonds, which works with governments and investors to develop the green bond market. He has advised the UN, UK and EU on the carbon markets, climate finance in developing countries and managing risk from climate change. Nick is also a founder and director of Radix, the think tank of the radical centre. Nick is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Cass Business School, UK, and lectures at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and City University, London, UK. Nick is a freeman of the City of London and was recently a member of council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Nick has authored a number of papers and articles and has been widely quoted in the national media on topics related to sustainable finance, pensions and government debt.

For more information or to get in touch with the author please contact:
Rebecca Krahenbuhl – Communications Manager, Palgrave Macmillan

rebecca.krahenbuhl@palgrave.com, +44 020 7014 6634