Criticism
Much criticism centres on the likelihood of free riders taking advantage of the Social Policy Bond idea. The first page in the right-hand menu addresses that possibility. The second page examines delegates' criticisms of the paper I presented at an OECD meeting in Paris, on the application of the bond concept to the environment. The third page responds to a retired professor's view on Climate Stability Bonds; the fourth responds to comments from various sources in the years since the idea was first conceived.
Worth bearing in mind is that the bonds target outcomes, and that they show their most marked advantage where current policy is failing or barely exists, and especially where policymakers at any level, and large parts of the public, have essentially given up. Such goals could include the elimination of poverty, the elimination of war and civil war, and universal literacy. Though not perfect in an economic sense (see the page on free riding), the bonds offer a way of stimulating diverse, adaptive solutions to social and environmental problems often thought to be intractable and, therefore, often ignored by policymakers.