The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that there are few asset classes as important to the economy as infrastructure, which has become somewhat of a catch-all term used to describe assets that move people, data, energy or commodities. The Globe's Jamie Sturgeon writes that investors, including the world's largest pension funds and asset managers, have long looked to toll roads, airports, railways, commercial shipping and electrical systems to guard against inflation, diversify holdings and produce often-predictable cash flows. Yet, during the past decade and a half, infrastructure has gone from largely a restricted market of government and institutional capital to one in which investors of all sizes can participate. Capital is pouring into new assets expected to be economic drivers for the foreseeable future such as renewable energy, fibre networks and data centres that many expect will deliver steady income for decades to come, says Christine Tan, portfolio manager at Sun Life's SLGI Asset Management. The "reshoring" of supply chains is another theme investors are banking on to drive long-term sector returns. "It's exciting -- there are trillions of dollars being invested in these assets," Ms. Tan says.