Big Finance, Big Technology, Wicked Problems, and the World’s Poor

Abstract

We begin this book by providing common definitions for the concepts that we will be discussing and applying in our six chapters. Those definitions will help create a shared understanding of what we mean by Big Finance and Big Technology, and the emerging social finance movement within them. They will also help us to recognize the Wicked Problems inherent in the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and what makes them “wicked.” The growth and development of Big Finance and Big Tech has created bright new opportunities to support positive social change. However, there is also a dark side to technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution that is inhabited by rising inequality, fractured social and political institutions, and accelerating climate change. The Wicked Problems framework offers leaders an approach to tackle the greatest challenges facing the most vulnerable people and our planet.