Social Investment Bonds in the European Context

Social Impact or Investment Bonds are relatively new forms of financing social services. The coordination of social service production is changed by them in many related dimensions: replacement of government funding of social innovations by capital pre-funding, replacement of non-profit organised pr...

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Main Author: Norbert Wohlfahrt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Social Work & Society 2019-04-01
Series:Social Work and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1576
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author Norbert Wohlfahrt
author_facet Norbert Wohlfahrt
author_sort Norbert Wohlfahrt
collection DOAJ
description Social Impact or Investment Bonds are relatively new forms of financing social services. The coordination of social service production is changed by them in many related dimensions: replacement of government funding of social innovations by capital pre-funding, replacement of non-profit organised provision of services by social enterprises, replacement of legally funded (output-orientated) actions in social services by impact oriented performance and finance. Empirical research shows different types of Social Investment Bonds in European countries, but their common approach is the implementation of impact orientation in the production of social services. There is a strong link between the high importance of impact orientation and the austerity regime in the capitalist states of Europe: the government saves short-term investment and combines this with new challenges concerning impact performance. So called Evidence based social work is becoming part of cost management strategies by the (local) social state and therefore it helps to realize defined political-administrative outcome goals. Social investment bonds are a new type of privatization in social services - and even if they fail they will probably establish a new political economy of social service production.
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spelling doaj-art-a9ab04a1f26d4ea5b8ace1e1e8d40a0f2025-07-31T00:01:36ZengSocial Work & SocietySocial Work and Society1613-89532019-04-01162Social Investment Bonds in the European ContextNorbert WohlfahrtSocial Impact or Investment Bonds are relatively new forms of financing social services. The coordination of social service production is changed by them in many related dimensions: replacement of government funding of social innovations by capital pre-funding, replacement of non-profit organised provision of services by social enterprises, replacement of legally funded (output-orientated) actions in social services by impact oriented performance and finance. Empirical research shows different types of Social Investment Bonds in European countries, but their common approach is the implementation of impact orientation in the production of social services. There is a strong link between the high importance of impact orientation and the austerity regime in the capitalist states of Europe: the government saves short-term investment and combines this with new challenges concerning impact performance. So called Evidence based social work is becoming part of cost management strategies by the (local) social state and therefore it helps to realize defined political-administrative outcome goals. Social investment bonds are a new type of privatization in social services - and even if they fail they will probably establish a new political economy of social service production. http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1576social service productionimpact performanceevidence based social workSocial Investment Bonds
spellingShingle Norbert Wohlfahrt
Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
Social Work and Society
social service production
impact performance
evidence based social work
Social Investment Bonds
title Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
title_full Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
title_fullStr Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
title_full_unstemmed Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
title_short Social Investment Bonds in the European Context
title_sort social investment bonds in the european context
topic social service production
impact performance
evidence based social work
Social Investment Bonds
url http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1576
work_keys_str_mv AT norbertwohlfahrt socialinvestmentbondsintheeuropeancontext