Introduction: The making of the european field of development banking

Abstract

This chapter introduces the puzzle of expanding national development banking in times of market-liberal EU integration. It presents the variegated landscape of national development banks in European Member States and their linkages to supranational institutions and programmes and builds a theoretical framework around field theory and historical-institutionalist European political economy to capture the evolution of development banking in the EU. The chapter argues that the current appearance of development banking in the EU is conditioned by constraints and guidance stemming from the integration process and the specific insertion of Member States in the European political economy. Importantly, it rests on a market-supporting, “promotional” understanding of development banks' tasks that has consequences for contemporary debates over industrial policy and public investment in the European Union. © Oxford University Press 2021.