Abstract

This paper evaluates sovereign wealth funds in light of the extreme volatility of energy prices and the severe global recession that began in 2008. A recent paper by Das characterized the assets of funds as showing steady growth in the past and likely increased importance in the future. However, recent developments have reduced the relative importance of funds and have demonstrated the sensitivity of the funds to energy prices and world business cycles. Investments by sovereign wealth funds have the potential to introduce political influence into corporate governance, but this potential is much smaller than the interventions into corporate governance by governments of the United States and elsewhere connected to corporate bail-outs during the recession. Lack of transparency remains a problem for certain sovereign wealth funds, but anti-recession interventions by governments have been characterized by extreme lack of transparency.

Recommended Citation

Grennes, Thomas J. (2009) "The Volatility of Sovereign Wealth Funds," Global Economy Journal: Vol. 9 : Iss. 3, Article 7.
DOI: 10.2202/1524-5861.1514
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/gej/vol9/iss3/7