SROI and Value for Money (VFM)

This economic analysis of salmon farming reveals that the industry has produced negative externalities worth in the region of USD$47 billion since 2013. 

In March 2019, Barnardos commissioned Just Economics to undertake research on the impact of the current funding environment on their services. This report formed the basis of Barnardos 2020 budget submission. It describes how a constrained funding environment is rapidly becoming unsustainable for organisations working with children and families. It sets out the costs to society of historic underinvestment and the impact this had on societal outcomes such as health, crime, well-being. An index of these outcomes shows how Ireland is second from the bottom in a sample of European economies.  The report sets out a series of recommendations to strengthen Barnardos sustainablity and, in turn, their ability to meet needs within their communities. 

As part of the DfID-funded Gender & Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) project, Just Economics was commissioned to review the use of value for money (VfM) analyses in projects aimed at adolescent girls in developing countries. This included a review of relevant literatures and theoretical approaches and a series of principles for carrying out such analyses in the future.

CleverCogs™ is a digital care and support system developed by Blackwood Homes and Care. It was designed to increase digital participation in adults receiving care and support packages and enable increased use of technology enabled care. Just Economics was commissioned by Carnegie UK Trust to carry out a mixed methods study to measure changes in outcomes for customers before and after the introduction of the technology. The linked report sets out the key findings from the evaluation. The full evaluation report is available on request.

Since 2013, there is evidence that Kellogg's has been removing key mirconutrients from its breakfast cereals in Mexico. This report makes an economic assessment of the savings to Kelloggs and compares this to the cost to the health, well-being and development of Mexican society. It estimates that Kellogg’s saved $85 million USD over five years from this practice, whilst the minimum cumulative social cost to Mexico for the removal of just three key nutrients will be $250 million USD over five years. This means for every dollar that Kellogg’s saves by de-fortifying cereals it destroys at least three dollars in value to Mexican consumers. The report discusses the implications of this for Mexican society.

This project was one of several partnerships with University College Dublin to explore the impact of ‘missed care’ in community nursing. Just Economics provided support on the economic component of the study, which included estimates of the cost of missed care and the identification of those costs through focus groups with nurses.