Financing infrastructure - A review of the 2010 EIB Conference in Economics and Finance

This overview discusses some key findings of the papers presented at the conference and draws some policy conclusions from them in the context of the broader literature. The papers and the wider academic discussion are sorted into three areas. First, how do the economics of infrastructure influence the way it would be optimally financed? Second, how are infrastructure assets perceived by private institutional investors such as pension funds? Third, is it possible to increase the share of privately financed infrastructure and still be able to address key public policy issues such as climate change and economic development?