Synopses & Reviews
In this book, an expert in the field explains why the United States is the world's largest debtor nation and how America's relationship to creditor states is of growing economic, diplomatic, and even national security concern. Foreign countries are not merely investing in U.S. corporations but are purchasing them outright: Abu Dhabi bought Citigroup securities, Kuwait purchased a large block Merrill Lynch stock, and China bought Morgan Stanley's convertible securities-and this happened before the September 2008 meltdown of Wall Street. The means by which wealthy foreign states make these purchases are sovereign wealth funds, their surplus capital that they are seeking to invest in order to generate the greatest return. Currently, the largest sovereign wealth funds are held by the United Arab Emirates (of which Abu Dhabi is part), Norway, Singapore, Kuwait, and the People's Republic of China; Qatar and Libya are also in the top ten. The United States has no such fund (although the state of Alaska does). This book takes a close look at China's and Norway's sovereign wealth funds to explain how they work. The author also uses domestic examples (Harvard's endowment, the California's state employees' retirement fund) to propose how the United States could create a sovereign wealth fund, speculating that such a fund could solve the looming Social Security funds shortfall. Most important, the book elucidates the national security aspects of not having an American sovereign wealth fund when so many other nations-both friend and foe-have them.
Review
". . . a well-documented book calling attention to the current usefulness and the future dangers of SWFs. Best for strong international relations and business school collections. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduate students, and above." - Choice
Review
". . . it is an essential primer that the concerned citizen needs to read to start making sense of the bewildering chaos of an economic recession that is being declared over before it is fully under way and of a global marketplace where major financial centers seem to have moved overnight to the capitals of once inconsequential nations. . . . Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner needs a copy of this authoritatively researched and accessibly written wake-up call." - Washington Times
Review
"Foreign countries are purchasing U.S. corporations outright -- and use sovereign wealth funds to generate returns. Explanations of how these funds work and who holds them makes this a top pick for political, social issues, and economic college-level collections alike!" - Midwest Book Review
Synopsis
This book examines a topic of crucial national security and economic interest: surplus money that wealthy nations (especially Persian Gulf states and China) have to invest in (or pull out of!) the United States.
Table of Contents
Preface Sovereign Wealth Funds: The Peril and Potential for America
Chapter 1--The Sovereign Wealth Funds of Nations
Chapter 2--Birth of a Sovereign Wealth Fund: The China Investment Corporation
Chapter 3--Investing Like a Sovereign Wealth Fund
Chapter 4--Evaluating Sovereign Wealth Funds
Chapter 5--Trust but Verify
Chapter 6--Take the Money and Run