Project summary

My PhD project investigates the increased creation of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) over the past 25 years. SWFs are pools of public financial assets that are invested in international and domestic financial markets following commercially-oriented, profit-driven strategies. This new form of state investment is delegated either to an existing public body or to a newly created institution and the choices governments make regarding the governance structures for these funds differ notably between countries. In some, governments can directly influence the investment of SWF assets and the use of their profits. In others, government interference in sovereign wealth management is severely limited by the funds' structures. SWF creation, therefore, impacts the level of influence different public actors can have on the use of public finances as well as the allocation of public finances in the global economy. I explore this phenomenon in the context of economic globalisation, financialization and the global economic crises of the past three decades. Using novel quantitative data on SWF creation and the institutional structures that govern them, case study evidence, and interviews, I investigate the political economy factors that influence governments' use of SWFs as tools to address economic challenges. Through this research, I want to better understand these institutions in the context of the broader process of the increased use of financial markets and financial economic logic in the administration of the state (state financialization). This work also contributes to the growing literature on the revival of industrial policy and developmentalism in the 21st century by analysing the economic and political institutional context in which SWFs serve such purposes. Lastly, my thesis touches on the growing literature on regulatory capitalism. I contrast the institutional context in which SWFs increase governments' power in making investment choices with those in which SWF creation reflects the removal of control over the management of sovereign assets from political actors.

Working papers in this project

"Global Crises, the Power of Finance and the Rise of Sovereign Wealth Funds" (Draft available on request)

How do international financial crises impact states' interaction with financial markets? This paper addresses these questions by examining the connection between international financial crises and a so-far understudied economic policy tool - The creation of state-owned investment funds known as Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Existing literature treats SWFs largely as money managers for natural resource wealth and foreign exchange reserves. This function fails to explain the significant rise in the number of SWFs across the world over the past thirty years. I argue that the trend towards SWF creation emerged from countries’ experience with the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09. Following the crises, governments faced pressure to address the shortcomings of the prevailing liberal economic approach. The economic importance of the financial sector, however, disincentivised governments from implementing policies that hurt financial interests. Instead, governments responded by increasing their engagement with global financial markets by actively participating in them to achieve their economic policy goals. SWFs emerged as a state-led policy tool for this purpose. I utilise a novel data set on 85 SWFs created between 1970 and 2019 to show that the crises form important breaking points in the determinants of SWF creation. My results also show that, after the crises, the likelihood that a government creates a SWF increases with the economic importance of finance.

"The "State" in state-led finance for development - Understanding Political Influence in Sovereign Wealth Funds" (Draft available on request)

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) play a growing role in financing domestic and international economic development. While they appear to be part of a revival of state-led development, some question the degree to which SWFs' investment activities are responsive to specific policy demands of governments. This paper offers new insight into the arrangements of delegation and control between governments and their SWFs to improve our understanding of SWFs' role as agents of the state. I introduce a new methodology to assess the governance of a public agent across three core dimensions of state-fund engagement - Fund autonomy, variation in public stakeholder involvement, and the approach to rules-based governance. Using a novel dataset on the governance structures of 60 SWFs, this study reveals that SWF governance arrangements vary widely in institutionalising state-fund relationships. However, there appear to be some patterns in SWF governance models. These patterns suggest that approaches to SWF governance may be shaped by varying domestic political economy models. This research deepens our understanding of governments’ influence over SWFs. Further, the methodology for evaluating governance structures introduced in this paper could also be useful for assessing political influence over other public investment institutions, such as development finance agencies.

Independent Instructor

"Contemporary Challenges in International Economic Relations", Seminar in the BA International Relations (Yr2), University of Geneva (Autumn 2018 - current)

"Supervision of Bachelor Dissertation Projects", BA International Relations (Yr3), University of Geneva (Autumn 2018 - Spring 2020)

Guest Lecture

"Seminar on the role of Sovereign Weath Funds in International Relations", for Nicolas Bau, BA International Relations (Yr2), University of Geneva (Spring 2023)

"Introduction to International Relations - Session on International Development", for Dr. Simone Dietrich, BA International Relations (Yr1), University of Geneva (Autumn 2021)

Teaching Experience outside University

Debate Chamber Summer School Courses, London, UK (2018 - 2021)

• Introduction to International Relations
• Introduction to Economics
• Money, Capital, and Financial Markets
• Growth, Development and Inequalities

German Language Cafe Teacher, Colchester, UK (2017-2017)