How to Make Finance a Force for Good Just as Thomas Piketty offered a sweeping critique and progressive reassessment of capitalism, former World Bank Group chief financial officer Bertrand Badre looks at the destructive role finance played in the global economic crisis of 2007- 2008 and offers a bold prescription for making it a force for good. Badre describes how finance can be harnessed to help us solve many of the world’s biggest problems—climate change, poverty, infrastructure rebuilding and more. As he writes, “When controlled and used intelligently, with benevolence and inventiveness, finance can accomplish great things.” Foreword by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.

Foreword by Gordon Brown, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain from 2007-2010 and is currently the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education. “In a world where the financial crisis often evokes the attribution of blame and the search for culprits, this book is refreshingly different. Written by someone with a deep understanding of both the flaws and the possibilities of the financial system, it presents a level-headed analysis of what went wrong. However, it goes much further and offers a constructive view of what can be achieved if we move beyond the postmortem and remember what tremendous potential finance can bring to economic and social development.

Indeed, it argues for the right kind of innovation in our financial system as an indispensable ingredient to solve many of today’s global problems and create a more equitable world. Bertrand Badre is at the cutting edge of impact investing, blended finance and many other techniques that align financial and social interests, moving from a purely financial paradigm to one that recognizes the true multitude of legitimate stakeholders. Practitioners in both finance and development will find his elaborations very relevant for improving outcomes in their field.” —Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.