Sovereign wealth funds - Special issue 2009

This special issue of the Revue d'économie financière has been organized in a way that it fulfills our desire to initiate the largest possible number of debates on SWFs.That begins with putting the question in historical perspective, which alone makes it possible to relativize the "novelty" that the recent rise of sovereign wealth funds is supposed to represent (Part I). From there, examining the strategies of some of these funds makes it possible to show how fundamentally heterogeneous they are (Part II).The role played by these funds in the dynamics of world finance then remains to be placed in a macroeconomic perspective (Part III). This makes it possible to better comprehend the quite differentiated strategies of these relatively atypical investors (Part IV). And finally that enables new light to be shed on the crucial question of the governance of these funds (Part V).The articles that have been gathered together in this special issue of the REF do not make it possible to answer all the questions prompted by the recent "emergence" of sovereign wealth funds. They do however make possible, it seems to us, to provide a framework for these debates and to enrich them. And, in our view, that constitutes an essential stage for taking action...