Circular Economy and Humanitarian Finance in Quest of a New Economic Paradigm

The search for a new system comes to the fore in almost every global crisis, whether natural, environmental, or economic. This search covers a wide area from economic mentality to institutional structure. The main cause of natural and environmental disasters seems to be the result of the economic growth and development paths followed in modern times, especially in the last two centuries. In particular, the transformation of economic mentality that started with mercantilism and continued with capitalism has not only led to income distribution injustice in the world, but also caused the unconscious use of resources on earth. The environmental and humanitarian problems caused by the production approach combined with the desire for rapid growth and excessive profit ambition have become more noticeable in the recent period. Studies are carried out for responsible production and consumption mechanisms, especially the concept of sustainable development for the solutions of these problems. The circular economy is an economic system that aims to establish a sustainable development mechanism in terms of production and consumption and reduces the waste of resources. Humanitarian finance defines the development of the financial system based on assets and the real sector, and a human and ethics- centered financial system. Therefore, humanitarian finance is a mechanism that supports a circular economy and a sustainable system. The potential solutions to global economic and financial problems, based on circular economy and human finance, will be discussed in this study.