Coriolis Seminar - The cost of capital for infrastructure: a brief history of the French financial system

France’s economy is largely relaying on an ageing infrastructure stock. In critical energy areas such as nuclear power generation and grid expansion, new investment is lagging behind the climate resilience policy objectives. The presentation will first sketch the broad options available today to finance large infrastructure investment, focusing on the associated cost of capital and the implications in terms of socio-economic benefits (“value for money”). It will then describe how the financial system in France was very different in France before 1973, as well as the cost of capital for such projects. It will conclude with a brief history of the changes that transformed the French financial system from 1973 to 2017.