8 - Epilogue

Summary

Chapter 8, the Epilogue, sketches out how public banks have responded to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in its earliest stages. The chapter makes two interrelated points, points which have run through the book so far. First, it exposes the societal dangers of subordinating control of the financial system and its capacity to the private sector and to financialised profit imperatives. Second, it highlights the benefits of protecting public banking capacity in order to make time available when needed. It focuses on the responses of the six public banks discussed in the book: the China Development Bank, the Nordic Investment Bank, the Indian National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the American Bank of North Dakota, the German KfW, and the Costa Rican Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal.