Displaying the ‘Research’ Category:
State Budgets Overcome Deficits through Major Cuts, But Have No Plans for Reinvestment?
A National Public Radio Broadcast by Greg Allen highlights the bait-and-switch technique of massive budget cuts used only for further tax cuts (Michigan, Ohio), though some states (e.g. Florida) with upcoming gubernatorial elections plan politically strategic investments. Paul Beck, a professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University, says that meant less money for schools and local government. "They were pretty massive cuts," Beck says. "Local governments and school districts were basically having to tighten their belts considerably. There was a substantial downturn in government jobs in Ohio, particularly at the local level." Now that Ohio has a budget surplus, the discussions between Kasich and lawmakers aren't about restoring spending to schools and local governments. Most of the money is earmarked for tax cuts. Florida — like many states — is putting much of the surplus into education. After cutting education spending by more than a billion dollars in his first year, Gov. Scott is proposing a $2,500 across-the-board raise for teachers. Scott, by the way, is running for re-election next year. To read or hear the full article: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/29/179762891/after-belt-tightening-some-states-are-back-in-the-black?ft=3&f=127088100&sc=nl&cc=ph-20130501
Community Development Investment Review Highlights New Social Impact Bonds – “Pay for Success”
Social Impact Bonds (Pay for Success) offer an attractive alternative to the status quo of paying for programs instead of results. Despite our best efforts, the poverty rate today is roughly what it was when the War on Poverty began in 1964. We are winning important battles but losing the war. A new social policy paradigm is needed. Pay for Success financing has the potential to improve the social sector’s effectiveness by rewarding programs that work, encouraging innovation, validating progress, and attracting private capital to the anti-poverty cause. As George Overholser and Caroline Whistler write in the latest issue of The Community Development Investment Review, it would “redirect and refocus our abundant resources, relentlessly, toward the innovations that demonstrate an ever-improving ability to deliver the results our communities need.” Certainly, important questions remain about Pay for Success. Equally important, however, is can we afford to pay for anything less? For full content: http://www.frbsf.org/publications/community/review/vol9_issue1/index.html
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Releases Brief on Effect of Recession on Low-Income Individuals
Taking a closer look at household balance sheets before and after the recession, Emmons and Noeth find that younger, minority and less‐educated families suffered the largest wealth losses during the economic crisis. They use data from the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and find that these households held a large amount of real estate relative to their incomes and total assets, mostly in the form of a primary residence, and had relatively little owners' equity in their homes. Declining house prices had a relatively large impact on the net worth of these households, many of which simultaneously experienced job and income losses during the recession. Similarly, using data fromthe SCF,Grinstein‐Weiss and Key find thatlow‐wealth homeowners owned relatively few non‐housing assets and were thus deeply exposed to the broad downturn in housing prices during the recession. In absolute terms, wealthier homeowners lost more home equity during the housing crisis, but homeowners with lower initial net worth lost more as a proportion of their total wealth. These trends at the household level have important macroeconomic implications. Mian, Rao and Sufi find that poorer and more indebted households reduced their spending much more than their wealthier counterparts in response to declines in housing net worth during the Great Recession. Similarly, Dynan and Edelberg find thatafter the recession, households that were more indebted were more likely to report cutting back consumption, even after controlling for wealth, income, and other factors that would be expected to influence consumption. Case, Quigley and Shiller find that changes in housing values exert a larger and more important impact upon household ...
SBA Innovation Chief Sean Greene becomes Entrepreneur in Residence at the Case Foundation
The Case Foundation announced today that Sean Greene has joined the organization as Entrepreneur in Residence. Having spent more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and investor, Mr. Greene most recently served as Associate Administrator for Investment and Special Advisor for Innovation at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). At the SBA, Mr. Greene was responsible for both the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, a growth capital program with approximately $18 billion of assets under management, as well as the Small Business Investment Research (SBIR) program, one of the government's largest innovation programs, which provides over $2 billion of R&D funding to small businesses each year. He also led SBA's efforts focused on stimulating high-growth entrepreneurship and was one of the key leaders in the Administration's Startup America initiative. “Whether creating and supporting initiatives like the Startup America Partnership, or incorporating the spirit of innovation and risk-taking into our work, entrepreneurship is at the heart of everything we do at the Case Foundation,” said Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and an active investor and entrepreneur. “Sean Greene has a thorough understanding of the innovations that happen at the intersections of profit and purpose, and we’re thrilled to have him lend his experience to our work.” In his role, Mr. Greene will help the Case Foundation evaluate and refine its efforts to revitalize communities by supporting entrepreneurship. Leveraging his experience in launching a $1B impact investing initiative at the SBA, he will join Senior Fellow Sonal Shah playing a key role ...
CB Insights releases Q2 2012 venture capital activity report
CB Insights has released their Q2 2012 venture capital activity report. To read the report, visit the CB Insights website at www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/q2-2012-quarterly-report
Bridges Ventures publishes a report on the power of advice in the UK sustainable and impact investment market
Bridges Ventures has published a report on "The Power of Advice in the UK Sustainable and Impact Investment Market." The report can be downloaded from their website at www.bridgesventures.com/sites/bridgesventures.com/files/BV001_Bridges_Ventures_report_final.pdf
Rockefeller Foundation and UN Global Compact publishes a report on social enterprise and impact investing
Rockefeller Foundation and UN Global Compact published the report "A Framework for Action: Social Enterprise and Impact Investing." The report can be download from the UN Global Compact website at www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/development/Framework_Social_Enterprise_Impact_Investing.pdf
Calvert Foundation publishes a report on gateways to impact
Calvert Foundation published a report on "Gateways to Impact." The report can be downloaded from their website at www.gatewaystoimpact.org/images/gatewaystoimpact.pdf
CDVCA is gathering data on the CDVC industry
CDVCA is in the process of gathering 2012 information on CDVC funds. Help us update our current list of CDVC funds. We are also soliciting responses to our 2012 survey. If you are a fund engaged in community development/ economic development venture capital and have not received our Annual Survey, please contact cdvca@cdvca.org. We will keep the industry updated and release gathered information as soon as possible.
McKinsey releases a report on bringing Social Impact Bonds to the U.S.
McKinsey has released a report on bringing Social Impact Bonds to the U.S. To read the report or replay the related webinar, visit the McKinsey website at www.mckinseyonsociety.com/sib
