Yesterday the Trans Pacific Partnership was signed, creating the largest free trade movement on earth. TPP’s 12 nations account for 40% of the world economy…and perhaps more significantly, all the leading players in the SIB movement, apart from the UK. (Britain remains cocooned in the EU’s trade treaty mechanisms and hence arguably disadvantaged from free trade). Interesting to have the likes of Australia, Canada and the USA all in one free trade zone which has considerable potential ramifications for the movement of SIBs as an adjunct to the core free trading aspirations…
Perspectives On Impact Bonds: The Next Five Years For International Development
Michael Eddy – Brookings
Reading Brookings’ outstanding report charting the trajectory and lessons from the first five years of Impact Bonds made me reflect on my own journey into impact bonds. It was early 2011 and the first social impact bond in the U.K. had just been launched. As I saw what were then novel ideas start to percolate into the U.S., I couldn’t help but think how this instrument might be used to address some of the unique challenges to delivering services in low- and middle-income countries. The time was ripe for this approach as results-based initiatives were gaining traction in international development. Governments, particularly in Latin America where I was working, had a long history of public-private partnerships. This particular instrument was new, but there was a strong foundation upon which to build.