Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I interrogate impact bonds as a financing mechanism for healthcare in India and ask what forms of health interventions they bring forth.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1980s, multilateral agencies and governments in many parts of the world have curtailed public spending for the health sector. Simultaneously, they have started to experiment with “innovative” forms of financing healthcare. In this paper, I discuss impact bonds as one recent form that attempts to interconnect social service provision and financial return in India.

After described how impact bonds are designed, I examine the indicators used to measure social impact and reflect on the consequences that the introduction of performance-based funding and calculative techniques have for the health sector. What happens when “the language of finance [is] gradually being incorporated into public policies” (Chiapello 2015: 13) and when processes of financialization meet “indicator culture” (Merry 2016) in the realm of social service delivery? What forms of health interventions do impact bonds bring forth? And in what ways is the provision of healthcare re-imagined through this financing mechanism?