The concept has spread like wildfire but the results, here and overseas, are mixed, reports Mike Steketee

NSW PREMIER Mike Baird says they have the “potential to change the world.” When he was still social services minister, Scott Morrison said he was “very keen” to explore them further. According to an OECD study, “few social policy tools have been disseminated so far and so fast.”

Social impact bonds, or social benefit bonds as they are called in New South Wales, are generating enough excitement to make Malcolm Turnbull proud. Not only that, they fit right into his innovation agenda, holding out the promise of a new way to tackle some of our most intractable social problems. They also tap into a growing market for investments aimed at doing good as well as earning a return…

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