IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hcx/wpaper/2001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Theory of Social Impact Bonds

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel L Tortorice

    (College of the Holy Cross)

  • David E. Bloom

    (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health)

  • Paige Kirby

    (Data for Decisions, LLC)

  • John Regan

    (Data for Decisions, LLC)

Abstract

Social impact bonds (SIBs) are an innovative financing mechanism for public goods. In a SIB, an investor provides capital to a service provider for a social intervention. The investor receives a return based on the outcome of the intervention relative to a predetermined benchmark. We describe the basic structure of a SIB and provide some descriptive statistics for these financial instruments. We then consider a formal model of SIBs and examine their ability to finance positive net present value projects that traditional debt finance cannot. We find that SIBs expand the set of implementable projects if governments are pessimistic (relative to the private sector) about the probability an intervention would succeed or if the government is particularly averse to paying costs associated with a project that does not generate offsetting benefits. As both these features are present in various public programs, we conclude that SIBs are a real innovation in public finance and should be considered for projects when traditional debt finance has been rejected.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel L Tortorice & David E. Bloom & Paige Kirby & John Regan, 2020. "A Theory of Social Impact Bonds," Working Papers 2001, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hcx:wpaper:2001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC2001-TortoriceBloomKirbyRegan_SIB.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    2. James H. Scott Jr., 1976. "A Theory of Optimal Capital Structure," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(1), pages 33-54, Spring.
    3. Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 2008. "Public-private partnerships and government spending limits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 412-420, March.
    4. Graff Zivin Joshua & Small Arthur, 2005. "A Modigliani-Miller Theory of Altruistic Corporate Social Responsibility," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Andrew Filardo & Madhusudan Mohanty & Ramon Moreno, 2012. "Central bank and government debt management: issues for monetary policy," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Fiscal policy, public debt and monetary policy in emerging market economies, volume 67, pages 51-71, Bank for International Settlements.
    6. Missale, Alessandro, 1997. "Managing the Public Debt: The Optimal Taxation Approach," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 235-265, September.
    7. Fischer, Edwin O & Heinkel, Robert & Zechner, Josef, 1989. " Dynamic Capital Structure Choice: Theory and Tests," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 19-40, March.
    8. Oliver Hart, 2003. "Incomplete Contracts and Public Ownership: Remarks, and an Application to Public-Private Partnerships," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(486), pages 69-76, March.
    9. Mark V. Pauly, 2017. "Social Impact Bonds: New Product or New Package?," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(4), pages 718-760.
    10. John Olson & Andrea Phillips, 2013. "Rikers Island: the first Social Impact Bond in the United States," Community Development Innovation Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue 01, pages 097-101.
    11. Marsh, Paul, 1982. "The Choice between Equity and Debt: An Empirical Study," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(1), pages 121-144, March.
    12. Alessandro Missale, 1997. "Managing the Public Debt: The Optimal Taxation Approach," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 235-265, September.
    13. Baron, David P., 2008. "Managerial contracting and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 268-288, February.
    14. Kenneth Rogoff & Anne Sibert, 1988. "Elections and Macroeconomic Policy Cycles," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 55(1), pages 1-16.
    15. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    16. Bank for International Settlements, 2012. "Fiscal policy, public debt and monetary policy in emerging market economies," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 67.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meg Adachi-Sato, 2021. "Contract Duration and Socially Responsible Investment," Discussion Paper Series DP2021-14, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    2. Meg Adachi-Sato, 2021. "Socially Responsible Investment: Ex-ante Contracting or Ex-post Bargaining?," Discussion Paper Series DP2021-20, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Feb 2023.
    3. Paweł Mikołajczak, 2023. "Comparative study of social impact bonds – capital per beneficiary and scheme duration," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 54(2), pages 191-220.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Buso, Marco & Marty, Frederic & Tran, Phuong Tra, 2017. "Public-private partnerships from budget constraints: Looking for debt hiding?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 56-84.
    2. Roy, Jaideep & Chowdhury, Prabal Roy, 2009. "Public-private partnerships in micro-finance: Should NGO involvement be restricted?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 200-208, November.
    3. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Picard, Pierre M., 2013. "A theory of BOT concession contracts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 187-209.
    4. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2012. "Performance choice, executive bonuses and corporate leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1286-1305.
    5. Rekker, Saphira A.C. & Benson, Karen L. & Faff, Robert W., 2014. "Corporate social responsibility and CEO compensation revisited: Do disaggregation, market stress, gender matter?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 84-103.
    6. Wong, Kacheng & Zhao, Longkai, 2023. "Customer–supplier relationships and non-linear financial policy response," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-205.
    7. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    8. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Tina Klautke & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2008. "Taxes and the Efficiency Costs of Capital Distortions," CESifo Working Paper Series 2431, CESifo.
    9. Eduardo Engel & Ronald Fischer & Alexander Galetovic, 2015. "Soft Budgets and Renegotiations in Public-Private Partnerships: Theory and Evidence," Documentos de Trabajo 317, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    10. Kannan, R & Singh, Bhupal, 2007. "Debt-deficit dynamics in India and macroeconomic effects: A structural approach," MPRA Paper 16480, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2007.
    11. Yukari Fukuda & Jun-ichi Nakamura, 2021. "Economic Analysis of Public-Private Partnerships in Japan: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses Focusing on Adverse Selection and Synergy Effect," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 17(2), pages 1-27, November.
    12. Jenny Simon, 2015. "Optimal Debt Bias in Corporate Income Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 5561, CESifo.
    13. Anna Matas & Ginés de Rus & Stef Proost & Salvador Bertoméu-Sánchez & Antonio Estache, 2018. "The Financing of Infrastructure / La financiación de las infraestructuras / El finançament de les infraestructures," IEB Reports ieb_report_1_2018, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    14. Hoppe, Eva I. & Kusterer, David J. & Schmitz, Patrick W., 2013. "Public–private partnerships versus traditional procurement: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 145-166.
    15. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Pensa, Pascal & Wöhle, Claudia B., 2004. "Kapitalstrukturtheorie in Theorie und Praxis: Ergebnisse einer Fragebogenuntersuchung," Working papers 2004/09, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    16. Chen, Bin R. & Chiu, Y. Stephen, 2010. "Public-private partnerships: Task interdependence and contractibility," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 591-603, November.
    17. Zheng Wang & John S. Heywood & Guangliang Ye, 2020. "Optimal mixed ownership: A contract view," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 45-68, January.
    18. Eva I. Hoppe & Patrick W. Schmitz, 2021. "How (Not) to Foster Innovations in Public Infrastructure Projects," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(1), pages 238-266, January.
    19. Fay, Marianne & Martimort, David & Straub, Stéphane, 2021. "Funding and financing infrastructure: The joint-use of public and private finance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    20. Mansaray, Alhassan & Coleman, Simeon & Ataullah, Ali & Sirichand, Kavita, 2021. "Residual government ownership in public-private partnership projects," Journal of Government and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fixed Income Securities; Public Services; Impact Investing; Social Impact Bonds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hcx:wpaper:2001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Victor Matheson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deholus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.