Evaluating the Social Value of Innovative Finance: A Case Study of Community Municipal Bonds

Start date: 1 October 2020
End date: 30 September 2023
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Primary investigator: Professor Mark Davis
Co-investigators: Dr Katy Wright
External co-investigators: Abundance Investment
Postgraduate students: Joseph Howell (PhD researcher)

Funder details

ESRC/WRDTP Collaborative Award Scholarship

Project details

This project explores the opportunities and barriers to social value creation within communities following the UK launch of Community Municipal Bonds (CMBs). CMBs are a new model of innovative ‘place-based’ finance issued by local authorities to fund green and social projects in their communities.

In collaboration with the crowdfunding platform, Abundance Investment, this interdisciplinary project uses social science methods to investigate the complex mix of motivations amongst existing innovative finance investors to assess how far the desire to generate of social value is a meaningful factor. The project also explores theoretical and empirical questions concerning how to define and measure social value, and seeks to establish its significance for evidencing claims to repurpose finance for people and planet.

Project website

https://baumaninstitute.leeds.ac.uk/news/esrc-wrdtp-scholarship-applications-now-open/