Infrastructure Finance in Europe

Financing infrastructure has always been a challenging issue in any country. The social returns of investment in water, roads, railways, or more recently telegraph or communication satellites are often apparent in the long run, but this distant horizon poses special problems to governments and investors. This book explores the different historical paths to solving the problem of infrastructure finance in Europe, and draws upon findings of an international and interdisciplinary research project. It offers, in a single work, a broad view over the main financing solutions elaborated in Europe to support infrastructures from the fall of the Roman Empire up to the end of the 20th century.