Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) are government-sponsored financial institutions with explicit official missions to promote public policy objectives and potent policy instruments for fixing market failures, incubating markets, coordinating public policies with stakeholders, and promoting economic structural transformation in an equitable and sustainable manner. PDBs and DFIs are experiencing a renaissance worldwide as their usefulness is increasingly recognized by both academics and policymakers. However, academic research examining their roles, operations, and effectiveness are limited.

In an effort to fill this gap, the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University (INSE), sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), has launched the International Research Initiative on PDBs and DFIs.

To turn the research into policy impact, the first Finance in Common Summit was held in Paris, France in November 2020, gathering the whole development bank community, comprising more than 450 PDBs and other key stakeholders (governments, central banks, private sector, civil society, think tanks and academia, etc.). Building upon the positive results of the first edition of the Finance in Common Summit, Public Development Banks will convene for a second time in Autumn 2021 in Rome to unleash their potential for fostering economic structural transformation in an equitable and sustainable manner.