Abstract

The present research analyzes the evolution of the concept of social responsibility and its influences in corporate strategy, the need to recognize its role in the traditional economy, the relationship between corporate social responsibility and investor behavior and the correspondence between socially responsible strategies and relations with stakeholders. This in order to understand the role that finance plays today, as it should offer new tools to address the global challenges related to economic and social inequalities and climate change, to counter the negative effects produced by the economic models applied so far and to revive the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.The discussion will focus on the impact that Corporate Social Responsibility has on economic and financial performance, analyzing the transition of ethics in financial markets. This considering that recent economic crises have traumatically shown the complexity of monitoring and regulating increasingly interconnected markets, of sanctioning deviant behavior and the need to rebuild mutual trust. In this context, it emerged that sustainable finance is gaining more and more credibility and is attracting growing interest among financial agents, both institutional and retail: not only the volume of assets managed from an Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) perspective appeared to be growing, but the Sustainable Responsible Investment (SRI) community has also shown to be wider, more active and a multi-stakeholder.