Beset by short-term pressures, governments often fail to focus on long-term outcomes. "Pay for success" contracts backed by social impact bonds offer a novel way to change that dynamic, Jeffrey Liebman said Monday in a talk sponsored by the Center for Child and Family Policy.
"Government needs to reorient toward providing solutions and outcomes versus paying for slots in programs," Liebman said.
Liebman, Malcolm Wiener Professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, is helping governments such as the states of South Carolina and Colorado pilot pay-for-success contracts, backed by social impact bonds. The new funding mechanism allows governments to work with private investors and agencies to improve public services. The approach emphasizes using data to measure results and paying for delivery of those results.
Liebman, a veteran of both the Obama and Clinton administrations, spoke Monday at the Sanford School of Public Policy's Rhodes Conference Room as part of the Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture series.