Constructions, cleavages, and complementarities: Macro- and micro-approaches in the study of green finance

Finance and Society, vol. 11, pp. 436–446

Abstract

Abstract The complexities and contradictions of ‘green’ finance demand multidimensional perspectives in critical socioeconomic research. Current studies often remain fragmented, focusing either on global financial structures or micro-level practices without fully integrating both. This essay advocates for a more integrated analytical approach, employing three components: constructions, cleavages, and complementarities. At the micro-level, green finance is constructed by diverse actors, influencing macro-level financial governance and capital flows. Conversely, macro-structural shifts, driven by geopolitical and institutional dynamics, shape micro-level activities forging new alliances and oppositions – cleavages. Since the responses of actors and their institutional context to green finance are diverse, new institutional and agentic complementarities emerge. How green finance alters the relationship between financial markets and political-economic institutions, and how this unfolds across national economies, shapes our understanding of capitalist varieties and the emergence of new actors and networks. The essay contends that linking these dimensions and integrating micro- and macro-approaches enables scholarship to pursue a shared understanding of green finance and its (in)capacities to confront socioecological crises under financial capitalism.

Authors 4

1. Valentina Ausserladscheider

   University of Vienna

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Vienna

   Department of Economic Sociology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

2. Julius Kob corresponding

   University of Warwick · Technical University of Denmark

   Affiliation as printed

   Technical University of Denmark

   University of Warwick

   Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

   Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

3. Daniel Mertens

   Osnabrück University

   Affiliation as printed

   Osnabrueck University

   Institute of Social Sciences, Osnabrueck University, Osnabrueck, Germany

4. Natascha van der Zwan Aachen Institute of Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Leiden

   Institute of Public Administration, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands