Regional development banks (RDB) have become increasingly important in the world economy, but have also been relatively under-researched to date. This timely volume addresses this lack of attention by providing a comprehensive, comparative, and empirically informed analysis of their origins, evolution, and contemporary role in the world economy through to the second decade of the twenty-first century.

In Regional Development Banks in the World Economy, the editors provide an analytical framework that includes a revised categorisation of RDB by geographic operation and function. Part one offers detailed analyses of the origins, evolution, and contemporary role of the major RDB, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Central American Bank, the Andean Development Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Part two offers comparative analyses of key topics on RDB, examining their initial design and their changing business models, their shifting role in promoting policies supported by the United States as hegemon and the private sector. The volume ends with a critical reflection on the role played by RDB to date and a strong defence of the need for these banks in an increasingly complex world economy.

Judith Clifton, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair Holder, University of Cantabria,Daniel D?az Fuentes, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Cantabria,David Howarth, Professor, Institute of Political Science, Department of Social Sciences, University of Luxembourg

Judith Clifton is Professor and Founding Director of the Jean Monnet Chair of EU Economic Policy at the Faculty of Business & Economic Sciences, University of Cantabria, and Principal Investigator on one of the largest projects to date on Disruptive Technologies in the Public Sector, TOKEN (Horizon2020, 4 Mill EUR, 2020-24). Her areas of expertise are public services and their transformation, whilst she is also interested in Regional Development Banks, especially the European Investment Bank. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Economic Policy Reform and is Co-Editor of Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy & Society, and Cambridge Elements in Public Policy. She also serves on the editorial boards of Policy & Society, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Utilities Policy, and Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics.


Daniel Diaz Fuentes is Full Professor of Economics at the University of Cantabria and was Visiting Fellow at Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford, from October 2019 to June 2020. He specialises in Regional Development Banks, Fiscal Policy, and Income Inequality and Innovation in Public Services. His current research interests concentrate on the transforming potential of Regional Development Banks in a multipolar world economy. Diaz Fuentes has published over 100 articles in leading international journals including: Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy & Society, Public Management Review, International Review of Administrative Science, Global Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Policy Modelling, Regional Studies, Journal of World Economy, Utilities Policy, Health Policy, Journal Regulatory Economics, Emerging Market Finance and Trade, and Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, amongst many others.

David Howarth is Professor of European Political Economy at the University of Luxembourg and a former Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author or co-author of four monographs, a textbook, over ninety journal articles and book chapters on European political economy topics, specifically financial regulation, and Economic and Monetary Union. He has also edited or co-edited thirteen journal special editions and four books on these topics including (with Huw Macartney), 'Banking Regulation and Supervision and the Great Leap Forward in European Integration', with the journal West European Politics, 2016. His most recent monograph (with Lucia Quaglia) The Political Economy of European Banking Union was published by Oxford University Press in September 2016.

1. Regional Development Banks in the World Economy, Judith Clifton, Daniel D?az Fuentes, and David Howarth
PART ONE: THE RISE OF THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS
2. Transformations, ruptures, and continuities in the Inter-American Development Bank's policy from 1980 to the present, Pablo J. L?pez and Marcelo Rougier
3. The African Development Bank: African solutions to African problems?, Erika Kraemer-Mbula
4. The Asian Development Bank: a global bank at the service of regional growth, Dominique Barjot and Pierre Lanthier
5. The European Investment Bank, Judith Clifton, Daniel D?az-Fuentes, and Ana Lara G?mez
6. The role of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration in regional integration and development, Jos? Efra?n Deras, Alberto Cort?s, and Guillermo Funes
7. From Sub-Regional Industrial Financier to Latin America's Main Development Bank: The Andean Development Corporation, Carlos Andr?s Brando
8. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Constructing the periphery of the European political economy, Stuart Shields
9. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Its Birth, Mandates, and Infrastructure Financing, Jiajun Xu
PART TWO: COMPARATIVE AND POLICY ANALYSIS
10. Considerations in the Initial Design of Regional Development Banks: A comparison of the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Steven D. Roper
11. The Inter-American Development Bank and the Washington Consensus: Shareholder activism and the taming of a reluctant partner, Sarah Babb
12. The European Investment Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: incumbents and challengers in the field of regional development banking, Helen Kavvadia
13. Regional Development Banks and the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships: the EIB as a case study, David Howarth and Moritz Liebe
14. Do we still need Regional Development Banks today (and tomorrow)? An inquiry in light of their role in funding sustainable infrastructures, Jose Antonio Alonso and Jose Cuesta