A Next Generation Finance Textbook Consistent with the Evolving Finance Paradigm

Current business education and the production/distribution/consumption system it supports are major contributors to the increasing unsustainability of our planet. A major reason for this situation is the current finance paradigm of Shareholder Wealth Maximization that pays little attention to society’s environmental and social needs. Business educators, and finance faculty in particular, have an exceptional opportunity to transform their teaching to educate the next generation of business leaders to contribute to a sustainable/flourishing world. While there are many ways for educators to change what and how they teach, one is to create and use new educational materials—including textbooks, materials that will be required if future business leaders are to be fully educated in sustainability. This paper looks at the framing and content of several widely-used introductory textbooks that support the current finance paradigm and then describes a new textbook in progress consistent with global sustainability and a flourishing world.