shape the future of our societies and their economies.
First observation: the explosion of inequalities internationally , which reminds us once again that in times of crisis it is the most fragile who drink first. Second observation: the disconnection between the financial spheres and the real economy , which questions their current complementarity. If the markets are already anticipating the coming upturn, they seem to be breaking away from an economic reality that is difficult to predict as the potential delayed effects, such as business bankruptcies, are numerous. Third observation: the divide that separates the traditional sectors hit hard by the crisis (like tourism, catering or events) and a digital economy weakly affected by the pandemic, not to say the beneficiary of this crisis .
Thus, a certain number of digital players have taken the side of supporting the physical economy - the trivialization of solutions such as click & collect or telemedicine is proof of this. 2020 has thus shown us the importance of targeting investment to meet the major challenges facing our societies. The advent of socially responsible investment (SRI), which has grown considerably in recent years, thus offers the possibility of building global responses.
Debt? What debt?
Since the beginning of the health crisis, States have intervened extensively to act as social shock absorbers. This had the effect of exploding the level of debt, financed largely by central banks, which had never created so much money in such a short period of time. At the beginning of February, nearly 150 politicians and economists from thirteen European countries, including Thomas Piketty and former Belgian Minister Paul Magnette, crossed the Rubicon by signing a call for the cancellation of debts held by the European Central Bank .
If many voices are raised to warn against declarations of intent that threaten the status of central banks, based on the confidence they inspire, we are nevertheless witnessing through this crisis a change of software. Unlike the sovereign debt crisis of 2011, tax reimbursement and budgetary austerity are ruled out in Europe, while the European stability pact and its budgetary orthodoxy are now obsolete. Governments, the European Commission and the European Central Bank will therefore have to build a new European pact to give meaning to debt. Figures such as Jacques Attali thus invite the financing of an " economy of life », A term which covers all the sectors whose vital importance we have been able to measure in recent months (health, waste management, sport, food, education, clean energy, digital, culture, insurance).
The moment of truth for companies
While companies are accountable to a very large number of players, from shareholders to consumers and their employees, they will be particularly scrutinized in the coming period, and this by the whole of the society in which they operate. 'write. It is about becoming sustainable both economically, socially, ecologically and democratically; and tomorrow, more and more investors and savers will refuse to bet on companies that do not engage in these transitions. It is up to these companies to "take advantage" of the current situation by knowing how to respond with more altruism. If nothing is worse than the logic of closure that can push the period we are going through, nothing beats the transformative momentum that will give us the will to stand together.