Rebuilding America: The Role of Foreign Capital, Sovereign Wealth Funds and Global Public Investors

Sovereign wealth funds, foreign government employee pension funds and foreign currency reserve funds control trillions of dollars in assets and are projected to maintain significant growth over the next decade. In today’s volatile global financial environment, the investment strategies of these global public investors will impact capital flows and influence markets around the world. Despite their growing salience in the international economy, many U.S. policymakers and political leaders have only a partial understanding of the investment practices, objectives, management and governance of global public investors.

On March 11, Brookings hosted a public forum that looks beyond current paradigms of foreign direct investment in the United States to explore new models of how state investment entities, including sovereign wealth funds, state-owned operating companies, and other public investors, might produce returns and ease U.S. budgetary shortfalls. Governance Studies Vice President and Director Darrell West presented key findings from a Brookings report about the economic, regulatory and political implications of foreign direct investment in the United States and the potential opportunities.

After the program, speakers took audience questions.