The political economy of sovereign wealth funds / edited by Xu Yi-chong, Gawdat Bahgat.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Political Economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds / X. Yi-chong -- Contributing to a Harmonious Society: China's Sovereign Wealth Fund / L.H Liew and L. He -- Between Principles and Politics: The Pragmatic Practice of Singapore's Sovereign Wealth Funds / Y.C.L. Lee -- Kuwait Investment Authority: An Assessment / G. Bahgat -- Sovereign Wealth Funds in the United Arab Emirates / J.A.Kčhichian -- Russia's SWFs: Controlled by a Domestic Agenda / S. Fortescue -- Some Macroeconomic Implications of the Future Fund / J. Freebairn -- The Political Economy of Australia's Future Fund: The Political Dimension / R. Eccleston -- Aboriginal Investment Funds in Australia / C.O'Faircheallaigh -- Norway - The Accidental Role Model / B.S. Trany̨ -- Nationalism or Capitalism? Sovereign Wealth Funds of Non-OECD Countries / J.Ø.Ml̨ler -- The United States Policy on Sovereign Wealth Funds' Investments / G. Bahgat -- Global Disequilibria / X. Yi-chong.

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have generated controversy because of their size, the speed of their growth, their ownership, their investment decisions and, most importantly, what they stand for in a changing global economy ₆ a new group of investors controlled, managed and backed by states. The debate initially tilted towards those countries receiving the most investment: investment from SWFs was threatening the national interest by hollowing out their economies and flagship companies, taking over resources and controlling their infrastructure. Politicians in some OECD countries even managed to create an atmosphere that SWFs were the 'Trojan horse' of non-democratic countries, undermining their political and economic systems and stealing their national wealth. This book provides a counter-balance: a comparative study of the seven largest SWF-holding countries primarily from a domestic perspective. In the volume, several contributors conclude that the creation and operation of these SWFs would appear to be driven more by domestic politics than external considerations. This calls for a radical re-examination of the impact of the SWFs from non-OECD countries, as well as the reaction and response to them by the United States and EU/OECD.