What does it take for a market to work well and contribute to human flourishing? How can trust in the financial sector be restored?

In this talk political philosopher Govert Buijs (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) argues that market actors – including banks – must be aware of and respect the ‘economic trinity’ of market transactions. Any transaction between two parties is a contract that tacitly presupposes two further contracts: a ‘trust contract’ and a ‘societal contract.’ Based on this analysis, he presents a renewal agenda to restore trust in the financial sector.

It concerns a talk that was given at the seminar ‘Reconnecting Finance with Society’ that took place on 27 January 2017 and was organised by Socires as part of their 2016-2017 programme on ‘Finance and the Common Good’.