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Financing utilities: How the role of the European Investment Bank shifted from regional development to making markets

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  • Clifton, Judith
  • Díaz-Fuentes, Daniel
  • Revuelta, Julio

Abstract

In the face of continuing financial and economic crises, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has been criticized for being overly-conservative in its loans to Europe. Critics in particular have called on the EIB to vastly increase its investment in utilities as a counter-cyclical measure. To take stock and, in order to evaluate the role of the EIB in financing utilities over time, we compile and analyze an original database of all EIB utilities project loans from 1958 to 2004. We find the EIB started out by functioning as a regional development bank, prioritizing utilities finance in its members' poorer zones; however, energy crises in the 1970s marked a shift whereby the logic of EIB finance to utilities became more politically-oriented. By the 1980s, utilities projects supported by the EIB were intimately related to those required for the Single Market. The origins of the EIB's current conservative approach to utilities loans was born in the 1970s and fully consolidated by the 1990s.

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  • Clifton, Judith & Díaz-Fuentes, Daniel & Revuelta, Julio, 2014. "Financing utilities: How the role of the European Investment Bank shifted from regional development to making markets," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 63-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:63-71
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2013.10.004
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    2. Clò, Stefano & Frigerio, Marco & Vandone, Daniela, 2022. "Financial support to innovation: The role of European development financial institutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    3. Zeilbeck, Severin, 2015. "An investment initiative for fiscally constrained EU member states: The role of synergetic financial instruments," IPE Working Papers 58/2015, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    4. David Castells-Quintana & Vicente Royuela, 2018. "Spatially blind policies? Analysing agglomeration economies and European Investment Bank funding in European neighbouring countries," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(3), pages 569-589, May.
    5. Lanthier, Pierre, 2014. "From the Raj to Independence: British investment in the Indian electricity sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 44-53.
    6. Ebeling Antoine, 2022. "European investment Bank loan appraisal, the EU climate bank ?," Working Papers of BETA 2022-10, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    7. Biancone, Paolo Pietro & Radwan, Maha, 2018. "Sharia-Compliant financing for public utility infrastructure," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 88-94.
    8. Bel, Germà & Bel-Piñana, Paula & Rosell, Jordi, 2017. "Myopic PPPs: Risk allocation and hidden liabilities for taxpayers and users," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 147-156.
    9. Adeyemi Adebayo, 2022. "What Do State-Owned Development Financial Institutions (Sodfis) In South Africa Do?," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 67(235), pages 123-152, October –.
    10. Frigerio, Marco & Vandone, Daniela, 2020. "European development banks and the political cycle," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Daniel Mertens & Matthias Thiemann, 2019. "Building a hidden investment state? The European Investment Bank, national development banks and European economic governance," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01621785, HAL.
    12. Hausman, William J. & Neufeld, John L. & Schreiber, Till, 2014. "Multilateral and bilateral aid policies and trends in the allocation of electrification aid, 1970–2001," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 54-62.
    13. Helen Kavvadia, 2021. "The European Investment Bank’s ‘Quantum Leap’ to Become the World’s First International Climate Bank," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 185-195.
    14. Del Bo, Chiara D. & Ferraris, Matteo & Florio, Massimo, 2017. "Governments in the market for corporate control: Evidence from M&A deals involving state-owned enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 89-109.
    15. Liu, Yang & Zhao, Xiaomeng & Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2023. "Assessing the role of green finance in sustainable energy investments by power utilities: Evidence from China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Utilities; Finance; European Investment Bank; Development; Globalization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • N24 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N74 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

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