Objective Impact investing is a major emerging phenomenon in global finance that promises to reconcile capitalism with sustainability. It is increasingly embraced by governments, civil society and the private sector in the Global North and South to solve social and environmental problems. The combined crises of climate change, inequality and mass migration in a context of economic austerity have spurred cross-sectoral impact investing partnerships in areas such as green infrastructure, women’s entrepreneurship, agroecology, refugee support and disease prevention. This burgeoning $200bn market promises flexible, holistic and profitable paths to sustainability, attracting major philanthropic organisations and institutional investors boasting fresh ethical and responsible mandates. Is impact investing merely a new frontier for capitalism, or does it represent a revolutionary chapter in global history? Will it benefit communities better than conventional development programmes? The time to answer these questions is now, as impact investing is still in its infancy and the first green and social stock exchanges are opening around the world. IMPACT HAU is an innovative, critical and comparative anthropological study of the moral and political dimensions of impact investing. Inspired by Marcel Mauss’s classic use of the Maori concept of hau, the ‘spirit of the gift’, it focuses on the designers, traders and beneficiaries of impact bonds to produce an empirically driven analysis of the multiple moral orders within contemporary capitalism. Six ethnographic case studies will provide grounded, detailed accounts of the design and implementation of impact investing in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. These will support a critical appraisal of the current consensus among global policymakers and business leaders giving markets a determining role in the ecological transition, testing the theories of sustainability that underpin hopes for a socially inclusive green economy. Fields of science social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managemententrepreneurshipsocial sciencessociologyanthropologysocial anthropologysocial sciencespolitical sciencespolitical policiescivil societysocial sciencessociologyglobalizationsocial sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrations Keywords Political ecology anthropology of finance anthropology of globalization and development sustainability environmental anthropology anthropology of migration medical anthropology Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-COG - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2017-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Net EU contribution € 1 999 999,00 Address VIA ZAMBONI 33 40126 Bologna Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 999 999,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Italy Net EU contribution € 1 999 999,00 Address VIA ZAMBONI 33 40126 Bologna See on map Region Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 999 999,00