Comment une méthode d'analyse de l'impact social pourrait limiter les risques associés aux social impact bonds?

Abstract

Since its emergence in the United Kingdom in 2010, Social Impact Bonds seem to be spreading all over the world. It works as follows. Private investors finance projects that aim to develop a social innovation. These investors will be reimbursed by the State with return on investment if the project is successful. While this financial mechanism is popular, it does carry risks. This master thesis aims to answer the following research question: how can a social impact analysis method limit the risks associated with Social Impact Bonds? To this end, this paper first defines what Social Impact Bonds are, and explains why the concept is attracting interest from stakeholders. This master thesis then analyses the risks associated with SIB’s. Indeed, the main risks associated with SIB’s are the risk of biased project selection processes, the risk of Mission Drift and the risk of inefficiency. Social impact analysis, intrinsic to the mechanism, can be seen as a tool for managing these risks. The theoretical part allows us to develop proposals for managing the risks mentioned. These proposals are then compared with the reality on the field through interviews with actors in the SIB world. The aim of this work is to formulate recommendations to better manage the risks and to use the SIB’s in a more efficient way.