Adam D. Dixon – författare

Whoholds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably bethe large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds. These are theorganizations that are in the media''s spotlight and whose leaders and employeescommand outsized salaries and bonuses. They are the supposed leading edge ofglobal finance and their power seems almost absolute, even as questions aboundabout their social and economic utility. But more and more asset owners areconfronting the status quo, the power to exact high fees and the focus on theshort term. The New Frontier Investorschronicles the rise of this new group of long horizon asset owners thatincludes some of the world''s largest pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, andendowments. These asset owners are driving the business of asset management toa new frontier by retaking responsibility of the end-to-end management of theirinvestment portfolios and by re-conceptualizing investment decision-making.

Thelessons illustrated in The New FrontierInvestors fly in the face of conventional wisdom, which has it that theseasset owners are at a disadvantage to the private sector fund managers andother service providers. These asset owners are supposedly not able to attracttalent nor do they have the organizational capabilities to compete. That many arelocated far from the markets in which they invest only exacerbates the problem.But this is incorrect. This expanding group of asset owners is learning how tomake the most of their scale and long time horizons, finding new ways toattract talent, to collaborate, and to build greater alignment with the usersof capital. They are not at a disadvantage. They are at an advantage.

The New FrontierInvestorsis essential reading for anyone wanting to see a change in global financialmarkets and the professionalization of asset owners worldwide, from publicpension funds and sovereign wealth funds to foundations and endowments. It isthus required reading for the senior executives and employees working in thefield of beneficiary institutional investment, as well as government officialsand others that have a stake in the design and governance of beneficiaryfinancial institutions and long-term capital.  

The worldwide rise of sovereign wealth funds is emblematic of the ongoing transformation of nation-state economic prospects. Sovereign Wealth Funds maps the global footprints of these financial institutions, examining their governance and investment management, and issues of domestic and international legitimacy. Through a variety of case studies--from the China Investment Corporation to the funds of several Gulf states--the authors show that the forces propelling the adoption and development of sovereign wealth funds vary by country. The authors also show that many of these investment institutions have identifiable commonalities of form and function that match the core institutions of Western financial markets. The authors suggest that the international legitimacy of sovereign wealth funds is based on the degree to which their design and governance match Western expectations about investment management. Undercutting commonplace assumptions about the emerging world of the twenty-first century, the authors demonstrate that even small countries with large and globally oriented sovereign wealth funds are likely to play a significant role in international relations. Sovereign Wealth Funds considers how such financial organizations have altered not only the face of finance, but also the international geopolitical landscape.

This book brings together researchers from different analytical perspectives for the study of contemporary geoeconomics to create a broader and more useful catalogue of conceptual tools, empirical entry points, and case studies around the subject. The distinctive contribution this book offers is its firm rooting in International Political Economy and the hitherto under-researched geoeconomics dynamics of Europe. Many existing accounts of geoeconomics have been developed in International Relations and often reproduce some of the state-centric and static assumptions of the discipline. Recent scholarship furthermore tends to focus on the US-China rivalry, thus discounting the role of other global powers in shaping geoeconomics. As a first collective contribution to the topic in the field of International Political Economy, the book stands to become a major reference point in the field for the coming years. Interest in geoeconomics as well as in related concepts like weaponized interdependence or emerging new rivalries has been on the rise in recent years and will be one of the key research areas in the coming decade of transition and change in Europe and beyond.

Chapters 1, 2 and 7 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.