Financial Stability, Fiscal Consolidation and Long-Term Investment after the Crisis

In the future there will be a global growing demand for long-term investment, both in mature and in emerging countries, to finance infrastructure, innovation, education, growth, environmental programs. Mature economies will also need to increase their share of long-term investment to exit from the recent crisis, to reinforce their growth rates and global competitiveness and to ensure public debt sustainability. Given the need to enlarge the amount of long-term financing worldwide, policy makers should create a prudential and accounting framework that encourages long-term investment with positive effects for growth and financial market stability. The paper then discusses regulatory issues related to the introduction of a new international and/or European regulatory framework that is more favourable or less penalising for long-term investment, and issues related to the creation of new euro denominated financial instruments for financing infrastructure (long-term equity funds, project bonds and guarantee schemes) and for strengthening stability in EU sovereign bond markets (Eurobonds).