The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) is a Congressionally
chartered, self-regulatory organization that ensures the integrity of
one of the country’s most important capital markets. Accessed for
centuries by state and local governments to finance trillions of dollars
in infrastructure projects, the municipal securities market is essential to
meeting the local needs of the nation’s residents.
Created in 1975, the MSRB oversees the $3.8 trillion municipal market
and ensures that investors, state and local governments and other
municipal entities can participate in this market and engage in fair
and efficient transactions to finance projects in the public interest.
Development and maintenance of the country’s infrastructure is
primarily a function of state and local governments that issue municipal
bonds. This paper is intended to:
1) Clarify the role of the municipal securities market in financing
U.S. infrastructure;
2) Serve as a primer on municipal securities and their relationship to
federal programs and private partnerships; and
3) Provide considerations for policymakers seeking to optimize
municipal securities and integrate private investment with the
public finance of infrastructure.
