SROI: a Cost-Inclusive Evaluation Method

This paper focuses on the Social Return On Investment (SROI), an investment project evaluation method which overcomes some issues of the well-stablished Costs-Benefits Analysis. It contributes to a wider investment analysis by using alternative tools, such as Pay for Success (PFS) and Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). The papar presents measures of economic and extra-economic values of transport infrastrucutral interventions based on the principles of "social accounting" and on the cost-benefit analysis. SROI offers an overview of how societal changes have been generated and experienced by beneficiaries and stakeholders. The method uses monetary values to represent the social and economic results of investments infrastructure investments, calculates the impact created by the project and conveys this impact in the form of a ratio. The emphasis is more on the creation of economic and environmental sustainable values than on financial variables. Using tools such as PFS and SIBs, SROI promises a new and more consistent form of investment projects evaluation which can guide funders and stimulate private investors, as well as public bodies.