Abstract
Language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 8 Jul 2015 |
Event | 11th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference 2015 - Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Duration: 8 Jul 2015 → 10 Jul 2015 |
Conference
Conference | 11th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference 2015 |
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Country | Sweden |
City | Stockholm |
Period | 8/07/15 → 10/07/15 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- homelessness
- social programmes
- not-for-profit sector
- biopolitics
- Foucault
Cite this
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Social impact bonds : the securitization of the homeless. / Cooper, Christine; Graham, Cameron; Hinick, Darlene.
2015. Paper presented at 11th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference 2015, Stockholm, Sweden.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
TY - CONF
T1 - Social impact bonds
T2 - the securitization of the homeless
AU - Cooper, Christine
AU - Graham, Cameron
AU - Hinick, Darlene
PY - 2015/7/8
Y1 - 2015/7/8
N2 - This paper examines the recent phenomenon of social impact bonds (SIBs). Social impact bonds are an attempt to marketize/financialize to some contemporary, intractable “social problems” (for example, homelessness and criminal recidivism). SIBs rely on a vast array of accounting technologies including budgets, future cash flows, discounting, performance measurement and auditing. As such, they represent a potentially powerful and problematic use of accounting to enact government policy. This paper contains a case study of the most recent in a series of SIBs, the London Homelessness SIB and St Mungo’s, a London-based charitable foundation. The case is designed to enable a critical reflection on the rationalities which underpin the SIB. For this, the paper draws upon Michel Foucault’s work on biopolitics and neo-liberalism. The SIB is thoroughly neoliberal in that it is constructed upon an assumption that there is no such thing as a social problem -- only individuals who fail; it transforms all participants in the bond, except the homeless themselves, into entrepreneurs. The homeless are securitised into the potential future cash flows of investors.
AB - This paper examines the recent phenomenon of social impact bonds (SIBs). Social impact bonds are an attempt to marketize/financialize to some contemporary, intractable “social problems” (for example, homelessness and criminal recidivism). SIBs rely on a vast array of accounting technologies including budgets, future cash flows, discounting, performance measurement and auditing. As such, they represent a potentially powerful and problematic use of accounting to enact government policy. This paper contains a case study of the most recent in a series of SIBs, the London Homelessness SIB and St Mungo’s, a London-based charitable foundation. The case is designed to enable a critical reflection on the rationalities which underpin the SIB. For this, the paper draws upon Michel Foucault’s work on biopolitics and neo-liberalism. The SIB is thoroughly neoliberal in that it is constructed upon an assumption that there is no such thing as a social problem -- only individuals who fail; it transforms all participants in the bond, except the homeless themselves, into entrepreneurs. The homeless are securitised into the potential future cash flows of investors.
KW - homelessness
KW - social programmes
KW - not-for-profit sector
KW - biopolitics
KW - Foucault
UR - http://business.cardiff.ac.uk/research/groups/interdisciplinary-perspectives-accounting-research-group
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2016.10.003
M3 - Paper
ER -