Seminar - Cross-Country Variations In Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Characteristics

Anna Grosman of Loughborough University London is giving a seminar presentation during the International Business and Strategy lunchtime seminar series on 29th September, at 13.00-14.30 in room 108, Henley Business School. If you would like to join the seminar online please contact department administrator Jana Oslejova.

Abstract:

We analyze the drivers of the variation in the characteristics of sovereign wealth funds across countries. Sovereign wealth funds have emerged as important instruments for governments to manage and invest excess funds and have internationalized widely, but they seem to vary significantly across countries despite serving similar needs. We integrate agency theory with varieties of capitalism to discuss how the multi-level agency problem, in which politicians act as intermediaries between the citizens who are the nominal owners and the funds’ managers, interacts with the country-level governance characteristics to drive the variation. Specifically, we argue that the home country’s type and quality of government and the origin of the wealth drive variation in the size and transparency of the sovereign wealth funds. We provide public policy suggestions for addressing these agency problems and improving sovereign wealth fund behavior.