Project description
The new economics of altruism
Companies today are expected to do more than make a profit. They also need to address pollution, labour rights, and biodiversity loss. However, governments frequently lack the data needed to regulate effectively. So how do stakeholders actually influence companies to change course? The ERC-funded BALANCE project investigates why some companies embrace social and environmental goals while others resist. Through four focused studies, it examines how banks can support local economic growth and why shareholders often struggle to coordinate around green policies. By mapping the real-world barriers to corporate change and combining trade models with financial strategy, BALANCE offers practical insights into how sustainability demands can translate into action, giving firms a clear and workable path to deliver meaningful change.
Objective
Firms conFirms contribute to society not only through profit-oriented activities such as innovation and job creation, but also by engaging in “altruistic” behavior by prioritizing broader social objectives, such as reducing pollution, improving labor conditions, and other pressing social issues. While economic theory suggests that externalities can be addressed through government interventions like taxes or property rights, incomplete information or political challenges often hamper these approaches. As a result, stakeholders must negotiate with firms, playing a key role in determining their social impact. Despite the importance of these negotiations, we know little about what drives them or how they influence a firm’s objectives. BALANCE breaks new ground both theoretically and empirically to assess how firms impact society and the underlying mechanisms.
BALANCE’s overarching goal is achieved through four interrelated projects, each addressing distinct frictions that hinder stakeholders from demanding change. Project 1 examines prosocial banks, revealing how their entry affects borrowers’ productivity and long-term local economic growth. Project 2 examines how competition interacts with social impact—either differentiating a firm’s products or reducing its profit margins. Project 3 tackles information frictions in financial markets, where shareholders often lack awareness of whether others share their views on a firm’s green stance, potentially undermining coordinated efforts. Project 4 investigates information asymmetries in global value chains, where competitive pressures and opaque green certifications can lead to biodiversity loss.
By integrating industrial organization and trade models with insights from finance and strategy, BALANCE pushes the research frontier while offering new policy tools. As public and private institutions tie financial support to sustainability, understanding how firms internalize their impacts on society is vital to fostering change.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- social sciences sociology governance taxation
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20136 Milano
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.