Premium
Paradoxes of Social Impact Bonds
Author(s) -
Maier Florentine,
Barbetta Gian Paolo,
Godina Franka
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12343
Subject(s) - bond , social welfare , welfare , empirical evidence , positive economics , key (lock) , sociology , economics , political science , epistemology , law , computer science , market economy , computer security , finance , philosophy
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.