RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 From Concessions to Project Finance and the Private Finance Initiative JF The Journal of Structured Finance FD Institutional Investor Journals SP 19 OP 37 DO 10.3905/jsf.2000.320226 VO 6 IS 3 A1 Teresa de Lemos A1 Martin Betts A1 David Eaton A1 Luis Tadeu de Almeida YR 2000 UL https://pm-research.com/content/6/3/19.abstract AB Since the mid-twentieth century in the U.S. and, more recently, since the 1970s in Europe, Asia, and other developing countries, national governments increasingly have used private capital to implement infrastructure projects and to provide services previously in the scope of the public sector. They do it using several types of concessions. Following this trend, in 1992, the U.K. government announced the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), a guidance and a legal framework for concessions in the U.K. Its main objective was to encourage private capital investment into public projects. To help the reader understand why the U.K. government introduced PFI, this article examines the historic and economic background of concessions.