Can Fintech Enable the World to Avoid the Tragedy of the Commons?

Nigel Bassett-Jones

Chapter 1 in Fintech and Green Investment:Transforming Challenges into Opportunities, 2024, pp 3-40 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: This chapter begins by addressing the food, energy, and water trilemma. A critique of the impact of neoliberalism that traces the transition from industrial to financial capitalism follows. The trade-off arising from improvements in living standards and environmental impact is then explored. In a context where socioeconomic and cultural differences result in conflicting views of what is virtuous, there is a problem of trust. The central proposition is that a new frame grounded in New Institutional Economics (NIE) is required. Fintech and distributed ledger technology (DLT) offer a unique way of building the essential institutional infrastructure required to overcome the problem of trust. Examples showing how fintech can address climate change follow. Whilst these initiatives are to be applauded, new international institutional infrastructure is required to enable fintech to realise its potential. Examples of future possibilities are presented. The chapter concludes by making the case for a new paradigm that prioritises international cooperation because unrestrained competition will lead to rising temperatures, mass migrations, and the collapse of civilisation as we know it.

Keywords: Fintech; New Institutional Economics; Climate Change; Commons; Financialization; Distributed Ledger Technology; Neoliberalism; Trilemma; Securitisation; Blockchain; Sustainability; Innovation; Circular Economy; Implementation; Governance; Challenge; Security; Decentralization; Digital Currencies; Circular Economy; Environmental Accountancy; Food Loss; Food Security; Food Waste; Industrial Symbiosis; Material Flow Analysis; Waste Management; China; Green Growth; Digital Finance; Big Four; Coal; Sustainable Development; Bitcoin Mining; Proof-of-Work (PoW); Energy Consumption; Carbon; Footprint; Market Value; Investor Attention; Google Search Volume; Causality; Cardano Coin; Behavioural Finance; Green Cryptocurrencies; Proof-of-Stake (PoS); Energy Efficiency; Green Finance; DeFi; CeFi; Banking System; Financial System; Bank-based Systems; Market-based Systems; SMEs; Corporate Ownership; Cross-border Banking Flows; De Jure; De Facto Regulations; Green Banking; Environmental Risks; Green Finance Regulation; Green Finance Policies; Gender Equality; Financial Inclusion; Women; Climate Change; Environment; Inequality; Poverty; Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC); Common Prosperity; Sustainable Democracy; Economic Inequality Elimination; COVID-19; Economic Perspectives; Interdisciplinary Study; Youth Banking; Unbanked; Underbanked; Neobank; Accessibility; Practicability; Financial Inclusion; Digital Technologies; Energy Sector; Financial Issues; Supply Chain Financing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G2 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/9781800614604_0001 (application/pdf)
https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9781800614604_0001 (text/html)
Ebook Access is available upon purchase.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:wschap:9781800614604_0001

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in World Scientific Book Chapters from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().