Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) can be effective tools for national resources revenue management. These state-owned investments, funded by commodity exports, foreign exchange reserves, or other national assets, are adaptable to the challenges posed by financial shocks and have been successfully employed in an increasing number of countries. The number of SWFs continues to grow, with the largest funds managing trillions of dollars in assets among them. However, given the significant variations among SWFs, it can be difficult to compare funds that differ in size, scope, and mandate. This book provides a sorely needed practical look at how these funds work—and how they should work. The New Frontiers of Sovereign Investment combines the insights and experience of academic economists and practitioners from several funds to survey a diverse financial landscape and establish the challenging topical questions facing a broad range of SWFs today: Should they serve both economic development and financial returns, and how? Will responsible investment enhance long-term returns? How can fiscal rules for SWFs be improved to meet emerging economic challenges? The book considers these questions as they apply to both long-established and newer SWFs. Featuring contributions from sovereign wealth practitioners from Alberta's AIMCo, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, as well as analysis by scholars at the forefront of sovereign investment, this volume provides timely and much-needed information on these rapidly evolving institutions.

Who holds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably be the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds. These are the organizations that are in the media's spotlight and whose leaders and employees command outsized salaries and bonuses. They are the supposed leading edge of global finance and their power seems almost absolute, even as questions abound about their social and economic utility. But more and more asset owners are confronting the status quo, the power to exact high fees and the focus on the short term. The New Frontier Investors chronicles the rise of this new group of long horizon asset owners that includes some of the world's largest pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and endowments. These asset owners are driving the business of asset management to a new frontier by retaking responsibility of the end-to-end management of their investment portfolios and by re-conceptualizing investment decision-making. The lessons illustrated in The New Frontier Investors fly in the face of conventional wisdom, which has it that these asset owners are at a disadvantage to the private sector fund managers and other service providers. These asset owners are supposedly not able to attract talent nor do they have the organizational capabilities to compete. That many are located far from the markets in which they invest only exacerbates the problem. But this is incorrect. This expanding group of asset owners is learning how to make the most of their scale and long time horizons, finding new ways to attract talent, to collaborate, and to build greater alignment with the users of capital. They are not at a disadvantage. They are at an advantage. The New Frontier Investors is essential reading for anyone wanting to see a change in global financial markets and the professionalization of asset owners worldwide, from public pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to foundations and endowments. It is thus required reading for the senior executives and employees working in the field of beneficiary institutional investment, as well as government officials and others that have a stake in the design and governance of beneficiary financial institutions and long-term capital.

This highly topical volume presents pioneering research for the purpose of developing a common analytical foundation and framework for the emerging interdisciplinary research field of investment control. Long considered as exceptional measures, restrictions on inward foreign direct investments (FDI) have become ever more common and accepted. This book presents different perspectives on how decision-makers go about the tasks of assessing risks and threats to national security that may be posed by FDI and then balancing those risks and threats against economic interests of parties concerned and society at large.

Demystifies the process of sovereign wealth fund creation and examines the policy and economic issues surrounding them, updated for a post-Covid world

The Palgrave Handbook of Sovereign Wealth Funds provides a comprehensive, detailed analysis of these funds from a multidimensional perspective consisting of 33 chapters divided into seven sections. Section I provides background material about SWFs, providing a foundation for the remainder of the handbook. Section II examines various controversies, governance, and accountability topics involving SWFs. Section III discusses the political, legal, and tax aspects of SWFs. Section IV reviews numerous topics involving SWF management. Section V deals with SWFs' policies, preferences, and performance. Section VI provides descriptive analyses of SWFs based on country or region. It also offers a comparison of SWF similarities and differences across countries. Section VII concludes by examining special issues and the future of SWFs. This handbook spans the gamut from theoretical to practical while offering the right balance of detailed and user-friendly coverage. Discussion of relevant research permeates the handbook. Although other books are available on SWFs, few are as comprehensive or provide a multidimensional perspective from academics and practitioners. This handbook fills a gap by showing how SWFs are a growing and dynamic force in international finance.

Strategic investment funds (SIFs) have gained prominence over the past two decades as governments and other public sponsors globally have increasingly co-opted the investment fund model to further policy objectives. Since 2000, more than 30 SIFs have been formed at the national level, typically to boost economic growth through infrastructure or small and medium enterprise investment. In the current COVID-19 pandemic environment, governments have frequently turned to sovereign investment vehicles to address the economic effects of the pandemic, echoing the emergence of new SIFs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. However, SIFs are not devoid of challenges, and the setup and operation of such funds can be fraught with risks, particularly in contexts of weaker governance, inadequate rule of law, and limited financial market regulation. The intent of 'Strategic Investment Funds: Establishment and Operations' is to provide guidance to practitioners and policy makers considering a SIF model where little widely available, practice-based experience has been documented and disseminated. The book provides a reference for policy makers who are creating or strengthening the operations of SIFs, particularly as governments examine the value of such funds as a policy instrument in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book examines the processes, evolution and consequences of China’s rapid integration into the global economy. Through analyses of Beijing’s international economic engagement in areas such as trade, investment, finance, sustainable development and global economic governance, it highlights the forces shaping China’s increasingly prominent role in the global economic arena. Chapters explore China’s behavior in global economic governance, the interests and motivations underlying China’s international economic initiatives and the influence of politics, including both domestic politics and foreign relations, on the country’s global economic footprint.

The resources of both governments and traditional philanthropy are either barely growing or in decline, yet the problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation balloon daily. It is therefore increasingly clear that we urgently need new models for financing and promoting social and environmental objectives. Fortunately, a significant revolution appears to be underway on the frontiers of philanthropy and social investing, tapping not only philanthropy, but also private investment capital, and providing at least a partial response to this dilemma. This book examines the new actors and new tools that form the heart of this revolution, and shows how they are reshaping the way we go about supporting solutions to social and environmental problems throughout the world. With contributions from leading experts in the field, New Frontiers of Philanthropy provides a comprehensive analysis of the many new institutions that have surfaced on this new frontier of philanthropy and social investment; the new tools and instruments these institutions are bringing to bear; the challenges that these actors and tools still encounter; and the steps that are needed to maximize their impact. The result is a powerful and accessible guide to developments that are already bringing significant new resources into efforts to solve the world's problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation; unleashing new energies and new sources of ingenuity for social and environmental problem-solving; and generating new hope in an otherwise dismal scenario of lagging resources and resolve. Investors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, business executives, government officials, and students the world over will find much to build on in these pages.

This book aims to foster a better understanding of the particular challenges faced by resource-dependent countries or jurisdictions in managing their resource revenues through natural resource funds (NRFs). It explores the varieties of natural resource management strategies as dictated primarily by domestic politics, and how the potential negative distributional consequences of resource wealth management (the resource curse) may add political dimensions and potential conflicts to decisions about NRFs in ways that other sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) do not experience. By bridging the existing academic and practical knowledge gap arising from the limited attention given to the domestic politics of NRFs and state-society relations, this edited book is a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and civil society actors in resource-driven economies and especially those interested in learning from comparative experiences of natural resource wealth management through NRFs.

This open access book explores the most recent trends in the EU in terms of development, progress, and performance. Ten years after the 2008 economic crisis, and amidst a digital revolution that is intensifying the development race, the European Union, and especially Central and Eastern Europe, are ardently searching for their development priorities. Against this background, by relying on a cross-national perspective, the authors reflect upon the developmental challenges of the moment, such as sustainable development, reducing inequality, ensuring social cohesion, and driving the digital revolution. They particularly focus on the relation between the less-developed Eastern part of the EU and its more developed Western counterpart, and discuss the consequences of this development gap in detail. Lastly, the book presents a range of case studies from different areas of governance, such as economy and commerce, health services, education, migration and public opinion in order to investigate the trends most likely to impact the European Union's medium and long-term development.