Development banks and state-led investments: new research questions

Abstract

The aim of the article is to bring in the concept of governance and financial bureaucracies into the discussion on financing of innovation and development. The article refers to national development banks as the example of state-backed investors who make investment decisions in line with policy priorities (to prioritized sectors, technologies and development projects). While building on the examples of public development banks, the article seeks to conceptualize the governance of public strategic investments through the notion of a state-led ‘investment function’. In doing so, the article seeks complementarity of the concepts that derive from economics and innovation literature on one hand and public policy and governance literature on the other hand. This study suggests that the governance of state-led investments can be understood as a combination of financial policies, institutions and organizational routines that translate into capacities of respective public bureaucratic structures to make financing decisions.