Abstract

The concept of social investment is linked with child and youth policy and employment policy. The European Commission has provided a further definition of social investment. According to the EU, social investment are ‘policies designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social life’. This includes long term care where it recognises the importance of ‘investing in prevention, rehabilitation, age-friendly environments and more ways of delivering care that are better adjusted to people’s needs and remaining capacities’.

In order to meet the challenges of a growing frail elderly population, there is a need for collaboration between different academics disciplines, including economics, management, public politics, law and sociology, between different public policy actors, especially public, private and non-profit organizations, and between academics and public policy actors. Therefore, the aims of this paper is to analyse possibilities and facilitate the integration of interdisciplinary point of view in order to propose more effective model for stakeholder collaboration that draws form the contribution that can be made by adaptation contemporary best management practises and cost-benefit analysis. Particular attention will be paid to contemporary principles of investment appraisal and the increasing importance attached to double and even triple bottom lines – those measuring ‘social’ and environmental impacts as well as simple financial returns.