University of Northern British Columbia: Open Journal Systems
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Improving Social Impact Bonds: Assessing Alternative Financial Models to Scale Pay-for-Success
Full text linkSocial Impact Bonds (SIBs) represent a new and innovative tool for promoting social welfare. If implemented correctly, they could represent a new frontier for public-private partnerships and philanthropic-private contracts. The limitations on the private provisioning of social welfare programs are decreasing, and recent technology allows for more accurate cost-benefit analysis and the measurement of more meaningful performance indicators. Taken together, these factors increase the technical feasibility of SIBs
ECONOMICS 1410 / KENNEDY SCHOOL SUP-125 Public Economics: Designing Government Policy
Full text linkECONOMICS 1410 / KENNEDY SCHOOL SUP-125 Public Economics: Designing Government Polic
Better by design: Rethinking interventions for better environmental regulation
Full text linketter regulation seeks to extend existing policy and regulatory outcomes at less burden for the actors involved. No single intervention will deliver all environmental outcomes. There is a paucity of evidence on what works why, when and with whom. We examine how a sample (n=33) of policy makers select policy and regulatory instruments, through a case study of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK. Policy makers have a wide range of instruments at their disposal and are seeking ways to harness the influence of non-governmental resources to encourage good environmental behaviour. The relevance of each influence varies as risk and industry characteristics vary between policy areas. A recent typology of policy and regulatory instruments has been refined. Direct regulation is considered necessary in many areas, to reduce environmental risks with confidence and to tackle poor environmental performance. Co-regulatory approaches may provide important advantages to help accommodate uncertainty for emerging policy problems, providing a mechanism to develop trusted evidence and to refine objectives as problems are better understood
From the Formulation of a National Policy to the Compilation of Social Protection Actions: A Case of ‘Non-design’ in Burkina Faso
Full text linkTo improve the social protection of its population, Burkina Faso adopted a national policy in 2012. This paper analyses the process whereby this policy was formulated, looking at the issue from the standpoint of ‘policy design’ (Howlett and Mukherjee, 2014). Conducted in accordance with an inductive qualitative approach, the collection and analysis of the data show that this process of formulation has led neither to reflecting on the problem to be solved nor to identifying the specific needs of the beneficiaries. Nor has it led to evaluating the potential outcomes of the proposed solutions in order to choose the most appropriate ones. The authors are thus led to an empirical observation of ‘non-design’. This policy boils down to a document whose all-encompassing content brings together every conceivable action of social protection, without any arbitration. Three factors have contributed to this non-formulation: (1) the lack of clear government direction to guide discussions; (2) a weakness of support and of political will, resulting in a low degree of involvement in the process on the part of high-level decision makers; and (3) conceptual and technical misunderstandings on the part of national stakeholders in social protection—so much so that they have simply relied on the advice of international bodies. The government announced its intention of playing a leading role in the process of formulating this policy, but this was a purely rhetorical declaration. The study shows that leadership and political will have been lacking, particularly when it has come to channelling the respective interests of the stakeholders and managing the contradictions that hinder the formulation of a coherent policy adapted to the needs of the population
The Nexus between Design and Policy: Strong, Weak, and Non-Design Spaces in Policy Formulation
Full text linkThis paper frames the idea of design spaces in policy formulation identifying three types (strong, weak, and non-design) and describing their characteristics on the basis of a three-folded ana- lysis: an exploration in the design literature to under- stand how scholars are reporting on the connection between design and policy and identifying a debate mainly focused on policy outputs (public services) and policymakers' capacities; an exploration of policy literature to analyse design in policy formulation and depict a focus on processes of policy development; a con- nection with practitioners’ points of view through a small ser- ies of interviews with policy experts covering different roles. The notion of formulating better policies through establishing optimal design spaces is built upon to result in the descrip- tion of three spaces where design impacts policy formula- tion, establishing a meso-level of reflection that provides a link between design and policy as theoretical reference for further empirical experimentations
Social impact Bond Primer
No full textSiBs are restructuring the relationships between government, non-profit service providers, and existing and potential social investors (the “impact investment” universe; social finances, etc.), such as foundations, that are beginning to invest in “social enterprises” in addition to their role as donors
The payment by results Social Impact Bond pilot at HMP Peterborough: final process evaluation report
Full text linkThis report presents findings from a process evaluation of the Peterborough pilot, 4 How, if at all, did the pilot lead to better outcomes of reduced reoffending (including the role played by voluntary and community sector organisations and partner agencies)? What wider costs and benefits, if any, do stakeholders feel were incurred through the implementation of the SIB? To what extent did stakeholders feel that the SIB led to greater innovation and/or efficiency? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the SIB contractual model as implemented? What key messages can be taken from the Peterborough pilot that offer useful learning points for future payment by results models and SIBs?
How plastic is our plastic culture? Reducing our consumption of single-use plastics
No full textOur deep attachment to plastics exists within a complex set of relationships between manufacturers, consumers, markets, and environmental forces. In this paper, I question the reasons behind these relationships and seek to discover why we have become so attached to plastics, and why it is so hard to break this attachment. The effects of plastics extend far beyond the issue of litter, but relate to our construction of identity and our sense of social justice. In this paper, I will argue that plastic is reflective of who we are, and also reflective of the global inequalities we have created and is thus an important social justice issue. I will employ the theory of political ecology to analyze the consumption of single-use plastics within industrialized countries and to untangle these complex relationships. This theory will highlight the influence of finance and power and help to unravel the role of industry and institutions in the seemingly agential decisions we make as consumers. I will then discuss why the plastics problem is so pressing, and why we need to change our culture of single-use plastics. The issue of single-use plastics has widespread global effects, and thus solving the plastics problem is a matter of social justice. I will then apply a political ecological framework to argue that single-use plastics are an integral part of consumer culture, and lie at the core of our identity as a society. Finally, I will turn to the question of how and if our plastic culture is capable of changing
A method for the deliberate and deliberative selection of policy instrument mixes for climate change adaptation
Full text linkPolicy instruments can help put climate adaptation plans into action. Here, we propose a method for the systematic assessment and selection of policy instruments for stimulating adaptation action. The multi-disciplinary set of six assessment criteria is derived from economics, policy, and legal studies. These criteria are specified for the purpose of climate adaptation by taking into account four challenges to the governance of climate adaptation: uncertainty, spatial diversity, controversy, and social complexity. The six criteria and four challenges are integrated into a step-wise method that enables the selection of instruments starting from a generic assessment and ending with a specific assessment of policy instrument mixes for the stimulation of a specific adaptation measure. We then apply the method to three examples of adaptation measures. The method’s merits lie in enabling deliberate choices through a holistic and comprehensive set of adaptation specific criteria, as well as deliberative choices by offering a stepwise method that structures an informed dialog on instrument selection. Although the method was created and applied by scientific experts, policy-makers can also use the method
Architectural Policy Design: How Policy Makers Try to Shape Policy Feedback Effects When Designing Policies
Full text linkHow do politicians use policies strategically for their own political benefit and to achieve long-term political goals, and how does such strategic behavior in- fluence the design of policies? Answering these questions is crucial for under- standing key dynamics, challenges, limitations and opportunities of public policy making, for explaining strategic choices policy makers make when they design new policies and political struggles they engage in with their oppo- nents