Sovereign wealth funds: an enemy at the gate?

After years of being the fall guy for Europe's trade unions and some politicians, private equity firms were visibly relaxed at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, thanks to state funds now being seen as the new scary faces of capitalism. Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have existed at least since the 1950s, but their total size worldwide has increased dramatically in the past 10-15 years. In 1990, sovereign funds probably held, at most, $500bn; the current total is an estimated $2-3trn. (See table below for a breakdown of this amount.) So what does $3trn equate to in relative terms?...