IMPACT
t has always seemed a perfect match: investors with a
social conscience, and entrepreneurs with a passion for
changing their communities. The result—investments
that generate a social good and a profit—has emerged
to play an exciting and formidable new role in developing world economies in recent years—and it’s likely
to grow. One estimate projects the impact investment
market will reach $1 trillion by 2022, a threefold increase in a decade. In the Americas, it has already delivered some notable successes, and supporters claim its
potential cannot be underestimated. Are they right?
With the debate over how to draw the line between economic growth and domestic social investment at a critical point in the hemisphere, this is a timely moment
to explore what some advocates claim is the Next Big
Thing in development theory—and to examine its application to the Americas.
What will it take to turn potential into reality? How
do you measure social good? How do you evaluate the
balance between profit and social good? How much of
either is sufficient? Can profit-making investment in social or environmental goods address the systemic, entrenched problems of poverty and inequality in Latin
America: lack of education, lack of infrastructure, ineffective states and social policies, and informality—to
name a few? Will profit-seeking investors really flock
