Social impact bonds (SIBs) have been welcomed enthusiastically as a new funding tool for social innovation, yet also condemned as an instrument that neglects beneficiaries' and taxpayers' interests, opening profit opportunities in the field of social politics for smart private investors. We will shed a more analytical light on SIBs, assuming that, like any contract, SIBs try to align interests between partners with partly converging, partly diverging goals. Thus, it remains mainly a matter of negation, and non-profit social service providers as well as public agencies should avoid particular perils and pitfalls.

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have alternatively been portrayed as a promising tool to improve the functioning of welfare systems, or as an instrument of neoliberalism 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 means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative text analysis. In doing so, we analyse a comprehensive sample of 51 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 so far, which strategies of de-paradoxification may turn out paramount in future, and how positive aspects of SIBs can be preserved while defusing their more problematic ones.

As the rhetoric of collaborative governance continues to gain popularity in the discourse of public affairs, both scholars and practitioners advocate cross-sector partnerships as a strategy to replace the vertical hierarchy of government with the horizontal approach of governance through a network of actors. This research explores the potential of social impact bonds (SIBs) as an instrument of collaborative governance. An SIB is an approach for broadening social programs, in a multi-faceted partnership among private investors, governments, and nonprofits. In this cross-sector partnership, private investors take on the financial risk of expanding evidence-based social programs provided by nonprofit organizations. In return, the government agency repays investors if the interventions meet measurable goals that demonstrate social impact (McKinsey & Company 2012, 15). Actors involved in the development of SIBs have published the majority of the scholarship to support them. Therefore, much of the literature informing the creation of future bonds is biased, and governments appear hesitant to try them before seeing any results. This study investigates possible disconnections between the arguments for and the practice of SIBs through textual analysis and elite interviewing. I identify three major disparities between the rhetoric and realities of SIBs: measurement of social impact, complexity of partnerships, and transfer of risk. / Master of Arts

Sedan SEB år 2008 tillsammans med Världsbanken lanserade konceptet gröna obligationerhar volymen på marknaden för dessa ökat betydligt för varje år. Sverige har under de senasteårtionden varit världsledande i att ge ut gröna obligationer. Detta till stor del tack vare landetsfastighetsbolag där Vasakronan var först ut i världen att emittera en grön företagsobligation år2013. Men trots detta ligger vi långt bakom utvecklingen av de sociala obligationerna, ävenfast att dessa lanserades i Storbritannien endast två år (2010) efter den första grönaobligationen. De anses vara outvecklade och färska för de svenska fastighetsbolagen. Vi gårmot en värld där fler människor väljer att flytta in i storstäderna och för att uppnå en hållbarutveckling bör fokus finnas på alla tre hållbarhetsdimensioner. Sociala obligationer kan varaett av de finansieringsverktyg som behöver användas för att uppnå en hållbar utveckling inom sociala frågor. Detta kandidatarbete syftade till att reda ut de frågetecken som fastighetsbolag och investerarehar gällande sociala obligationer för att öka transparensen på marknaden. För att åstadkommadetta har en litterär- samt kvalitativ studie tagit plats där den kvalitativa studien bestått av intervjuer. Sju relevanta aktörer till detta arbete har intervjuats för att sondera möjligheter ochutmaningar med brukandet av sociala obligationer. Resultatet visar på att det finns vissautmaningar men framförallt potential hos finansieringsverktyget. Bland de responderandeaktörerna anses social washing och i vissa fall brist på transparens vara de störstautmaningarna, en större tydlighet behöver alltså finnas på marknaden. För att öka tydlighetenkrävs det klara ramverk och spelregler vilket kan uppnås via tydliga målsättningar. Studien visar även att det finns stor outnyttjad potential som fastighetsbolag och investerare iframtiden bör ta vara på. / Since 2008, when SEB together with The World Bank launched the concept of green bonds,the market volume of these bonds have increased significantly on a yearly basis. During thelast decade Sweden has been the leading country in handing out these green bonds. This ismostly because of Sweden’s real estate companies, such as Vasakronan who were the first toissue a green corporate bond in 2013. But despite that we are still far behind in thedevelopment of the social bonds, even though these were first launched in Great Britain in2010, only 2 years after the introduction of the first green bond. It is considered to be tooundeveloped and fresh for the swedish real estate companies. We are moving towards a worldwhere more and more people decide to move their lives to the big city, and to reachsustainable development the focus should be on all three sustainability dimensions. This master’s thesis aims to answer the questions that real estate companies and investorshave regarding social impact bonds, and to increase the markets transparency. This has beenachieved through a literary and qualitative study, where the qualitative study has consisted ofinterviews. Seven interviews with relevant people have been conducted to examine thepossibilities and challenges with social impact bonds. The results show that there are certainchallenges, but primarily potential with the financing tool. The interviewees agree that themarket needs more clarity and that social washing and, in some cases, lack of transparency inthe market are the greatest challenges. To increase market clarity there should exist a moreclear set of rules which can be achieved through setting clear objectives. The study also showsthat there is an untapped market with a huge potential that future investors and real estatecompanies should take advantage of.

As we face increasingly complex problems of both a social and environmental nature, innovative and multifaceted solutions are required to create a sustainable future. Despite Sweden's leading position in terms of financial solutions to environmental issues, Sweden is behind most OECD economies in the development of a financial infrastructure for private investment for social and socio-economic projects. In our essay, we examine what the conditions are for social investments in Sweden. The purpose of our study is to investigate and analyze incentives, challenges, and opportunities for social investments in the Swedish capital market. In our approach, we investigated the institutional conditions for the implementation of social investments in a Swedish context, and the various areas of responsibility associated with social investments. In addition, we have analyzed how transaction costs and the organizational structure affect social investments in Sweden. It is also those four relationships that formed the basis of the study's analysis model, which have been used to analyze the empirical material. A qualitative method has been used to answer the purpose of the study. A total of ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from the Swedish financial industry and the public sector. The study shows that the demand for increased measurability and a more data-driven approach, as well as the possibility of a more well-diversified portfolio, constitute incentives to invest socially sustainable. The challenges identified essentially deal with risk management, control, and organizational structure. The fundamental possibility of social investment, in the form of social outcome contracts, is its potential to generate a win-win-win situation, where all parties benefit from the outcome. In addition, we also found opportunities linked to the organizational structure and control, as these could facilitate future implementation in a Swedish context. It is proposed that the development of the limited company form would serve as inspiration for a more organic development and adaptation to the Swedish market.

Portés par des changements technologiques, des cadres juridiques nouveaux, une demande de financement croissante de la part des entreprises innovantes et une montée en maturité des opérateurs du marché, les professionnels du financement de l’innovation ont pour partie modifié leurs pratiques et de nouveaux outils émergent. Ces nombreuses évolutions posent des questionnements théoriques essentiels.La thèse vise à investiguer trois de ces modes de financement. Le premier, les Social Impact Bonds (autrement dénommés en France Contrats à Impact Social) sont un mode de financement de l’innovation sociale non entrepreneuriale apparu en 2010 en Grande-Bretagne. Le second outil analysé est celui du financement participatif (crowdfunding). Forme émergente de financement des projets entrepreneuriaux par la foule sur internet, il connait une croissance forte depuis une décennie. La thèse questionne l’impact du degré d’innovation sur la réussite des campagnes. Le troisième et dernier outil évoqué dans la thèse est celui des fonds de Multi Corporate Venture Capital (MCVC), et leurs formes organisationnelles. / Driven by technological change, new legal frameworks, growing demand for cash from start-ups, and a growing maturity of market operators, innovation finance professionals have partly modified their practices. On the one hand, traditional financing tools have modernized their organizations and methods, and on the other, new forms of financing have emerged. These numerous evolutions open essential theoretical questions, while questioning the traditional theories of the financing of innovation as well as suggesting new theoretical considerations.The thesis investigates three of these modes of financing. The first, the Social Impact Bonds (otherwise known as Contrats à Impact Social, in France) are a way of financing the non-entrepreneurial social innovation that appeared in 2010 in Great Britain. The second tool analyzed is about equity crowdfunding. Emerging form of financing entrepreneurial projects by the crowd on the internet, it knows a strong growth since a decade. The thesis analyzes the impact of innovation degree on campaigns’ success. The third and last tool mentioned in this thesis is that of the funds of Multi Corporate Venture Capital (MCVC).