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The Public Policy Role of the European Investment Bank within the EU
Author(s) -
HONOHAN PATRICK
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5965.1995.tb00537.x
Subject(s) - sophistication , investment banking , equity (law) , business , competition (biology) , loan , investment (military) , public investment , finance , financial market , investment policy , european union , financial system , economic policy , economics , market economy , political science , incentive , ecology , social science , sociology , politics , law , biology
Despite the increasing sophistication of private financial markets in Europe, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has been expanding as never before. Is the Bank just one among many large banks prepared to provide project finance in Europe, or does it have a distinct public policy role? We argue that its main distinguishing role to date has been to bring competition and efficiency to the less efficient banking markets. But new initiatives envisage a move to more EIB involvement in loan guarantees and equity investment. We review the potential here and offer some cautionary remarks.