Monday, October 28, 2013

Pension funds can and should invest more in infrastructure


This is an important idea that needs serious consideration.  As outlined in the current issue of the Economist - If you build it, they will fund.  The article points out the obvious on the importance of getting pensions and public infrastructure matched up:

"It might seem like a marriage made in heaven.  Infrastructure projects take a long time to build but then deliver cash flows over an extended period.  Pension funds have liabilities that stretch over several decades.  Why not get the latter to finance the former?"

Consider the following paragraph also:

"At the moment, public finances are very light.  Although governments would like to see more infrastructure get built (thanks, not least to Keynesian stimulus that might result), they would rather not bear the whole burden.  The difficult bit about infrastructure projects, apart from the original decision to commission them, is the cost of construction.  That is where governments would like pension funds, and the rest of the private sector, to open up their wallets."

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