NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Ben Taylor, Zannatul Ferdous & Jason van Staden

Impact investing is an opportunity for public and private money to support emerging markets that lack the capital needed for growth and poverty reduction, but the foundations are wobbling. Collective delusion about the true impact of investments has the potential to undermine a vital instrument for global development. The current paradigm of linear, simplistic cause-and-effect models for impact risks distorting markets and directing capital toward investments that may not be effective.