Sovereign wealth funds and national economic development: a global overview of 'strategic investment funds'

Neil Lee, Husam Arman, Martina Pardy, Simona Iammarino, Ahmed Alawadhi and Yasmeen Al-Jalal

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Strategic Investment Funds – Sovereign Wealth Funds that include some focus on domestic economic development – have become an increasingly important policy tool. Yet, there is little systematic literature on these funds, their scope, design and the policy issues they raise. In this report, we present a global overview of these funds. Of the 100 largest Sovereign Wealth Funds worldwide, we find evidence that 53 are undertaking a domestic economic development role. We conduct a systematic review of fund activities and show blurred boundaries between these funds and development banks, and a variety of policy aims and mechanisms. We conduct detailed case studies of four different funds – Temasek (Singapore), Mubadala (United Arab Emirates), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and Samruk-Kazyna (Kazakhstan) – to consider the tensions and policy issues they raise. Finally, we formulate broad policy indications for governments seeking to use these funds, and extract lessons for the Kuwaiti case.

JEL-codes: E6 N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2026-07
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:140258

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