Abstract
In the early part of the 2000s, the world witnessed a two-fold dramatic redistribution of global wealth. First, the skyrocketing of oil prices (up until July 2008) meant that oil-producing nations accumulated massive revenues. Similarly, emerging markets, particularly China, continued its impressive economic growth. Meanwhile, developed countries, such as the USA and those in Europe, built up substantial current account deficits. Stated differently, there had been a massive inflow of capital from the latter to the former. Consequently, oil producers and emerging markets became major creditors to the world and to industrialised countries in particular. Second, a substantial share of this new wealth is owned and managed by governments, not by the private sector. This emerging and growing framework is at sharp variance with today’s general perception of a market-based global economy and financial system in which decision-making is largely in the hands of private agents, principally pursuing commercial interests.
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© 2010 Gawdat Bahgat
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Bahgat, G. (2010). Kuwait Investment Authority – An Assessment. In: Yi-chong, X., Bahgat, G. (eds) The Political Economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290648_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290648_4
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