Abstract
Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have alternatively been portrayed as a promising tool to improve
the functioning of welfare systems, or as an instrument of neo-liberalism that threatens to
undermine them. Recently, a more nuanced understanding of the promises as well as pitfalls
of SIBs has developed, as both practical experiences and published empirical evidence about
implemented SIBs have increased in number. We aim to contribute to the development of such
an understanding by analyzing practitioner reports on SIBs. We identify two key paradoxes of
SIBs. These paradoxes centre on statements that cannot both hold true for the very same SIB:
(1) flexible but evidence-based services; and (2) cost-saving risk transfer to private investors.
We conclude by discussing how those paradoxes have been resolved in existing SIBs, which
strategies of de-paradoxification may turn out to be paramount in future, and how positive
aspects of SIBs can be preserved while defusing their more problematic ones.
Lingua originale | English |
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pagine (da-a) | 1332-1353 |
Numero di pagine | 22 |
Rivista | SOCIAL POLICY & ADMINISTRATION |
Volume | 52 |
DOI | |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2018 |
Keywords
- Performance measurement
- Private investment
- Social Impact Bonds
- Social services
- misurazione delle performance
- servizi sociali
- social impact bond