Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Spotlight

The growing size and influence of sovereign wealth funds has become a topic of concern.  Currently these funds are operated by more than twenty countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, and are buying stakes in U.S. companies.  Both the Group of Seven and the IMF recently asked whether there should be standards addressing risk management, transparency and accountability for the funds.  Chair Cox last night in a speech said that the rise of the funds "challenges us to ask whether these many benefits of markets and private ownership will be threatened if government ownership in the economy...becomes more significant -- or whether, alternatively, the world will be better off."   WSJ, Cox Cites Concern Over Sovereign Funds.