Today’s historically low interest rates should encourage long-term investment, as they lower the current cost of capital. But new financial regulatory frameworks – such as Basel III, which aims to reduce risk in the banking sector, and Solvency II, the European Union’s equivalent for insurance companies – are inadvertently discouraging such investment.
一个已经显现出这一机会的领域是金融改革。目前的历史低利率应能鼓励长期投资，因为这降低了当前的资本成本。但新金融监管框架——如旨在降低银行业风险的巴塞尔III和欧盟降低保险公司风险的偿付能力II（Solvency II）——在无意中制约了这类投资。这有碍于短期提振就业的措施和可持续发展的长期目标。