Big Think

Parag Khanna: Well, right now, for example, the International Monetary Fund is considering issuing some principals on how seven low funds should be governed, or what degrees of transparency they should have in their investments, and they should be wedded to ensure that they are not politically motivated before they are approved.

The American Treasury and the European Union are also considering some similar sorts of proposals for standards for soverign wealth funds.

Will there be a single global standard to which everyone agrees to, where no exceptions are made, and to which all sovereign wealth funds subscribe? No way. It will never ever happen.

It may have an influence on the wedding that goes on when a sovereign wealth fund invests in a prosperous country, and the developed and mature and well-regulated market, like the United States or the Europe, because then they can control, and block certain transactions from happening. But if they over regulate, as the Sarbanes Oxley Act, teaches us, the money will just go elsewhere.

Recorded on: 3/3/2008