SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " rep " 32,189 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
AARP Examines the Importance of State Health Insurance Assistance Programs
Last month, the AARP Public Policy Institute released a report on the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs), outlining the critical role these Medicare counselors have in improving beneficiary health and well-being. SHIPs provide objective, free, one-on-one assistance to Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers. With locations in every state, over 2,000 offices in communities […]
Maingear Retro98 Desktops Pack Modern Gaming Hardware in Vintage Beige Designs
Maingear has officially announced its latest retro-themed pre-built desktop PCs, the Retro98. The new pre-built desktops are built in SilverStone FLP02 chassis, replete with a functional turbo button—for setting PWM-controlled fans to max speed—and a big red power toggle switch, and they can be had ...
Cowboys 2026 draft: DE Rueben Bain Jr. scouting report
Here is our scouting report on Miami edge rusher, Rueben Bain Jr.
Senate blocks federal funding bills as deadline to avert shutdown looms
The funding package failed 55 to 45, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats to block the bills
Pollution control equipment breakdown reported at Clairton Coke Works, health officials say
The elevated readings did not exceed any 1-hour or 24-hour air quality standards, ACHD says.
‘OPB Politics Now’: ICE, transportation and a looming state budget hole
Oregon lawmakers return to Salem, plus the Republican gubernatorial primary field continues to expand.
Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, Teyana Taylor Among 2026 Grammy Presenters
An additional surprise presenter will be revealed onstage during Sunday night’s ceremony.
Joe Brady-led Bills to hire former Steelers coach
The Joe Brady-led Buffalo Bills are reportedly hiring a now former Pittsburgh Steelers coach.
ICE Will Play a Big Factor in the Maine Senate Race
Seems like Republican senator Susan Collins is trying to take credit for the agency’s removal from the state. Governor Janet Mills, who’s challenging for her seat, had a rebuttal.
Eagles' OC candidate is now on the Giants coaching radar
ESPN's Peter Schrager reports that the New York Giants will discuss their offensive coordinator vacancy with Colts OC Jim Bob Cooter
Groups Back Larson Challenger, Calling for Generational Change
Three outside political groups are backing Luke Bronin in his primary challenge to Representative John Larson, the 77-year-old Connecticut Democrat.
Apple buys Israeli startup Q.AI as the AI race heats up
Apple announced its acquisition of Q.AI for a reported nearly $2 billion, making it the company's second-largest acquisition to date.
Two New Pixel Buds 2a Colors Reportedly Leak Online
Two fresh color options for Google’s budget earbuds appear to be on the way, with leaked renders pointing to a lighter gray tone and a vivid pink or red
Chicago health officials report 7 cases, 2 deaths from meningitis outbreak in January
Samsung’s confusing Galaxy S26 pricing raises base model cost, but makes Ultra cheaper
New reports reveal that Samsung is, in fact, planning to raise the price of the Galaxy S26 series, but only...
A defining week at Davos
Davos was a standout week for Business Insider, bringing our journalism to life on the world stage through standout reporting, smart products, and high-impact events.
ICYMI: Rep. Smucker Questions Health CEOs on Rising Health Care Costs
Rep. Smucker: "You would expect if a marketplace is working properly, that perhaps under consolidation, we would see lower or at least slower growing premiums in highly concentrated markets. But that's just simply not happening today."
Hill Country floods are worsening mental health issues in Kerr County, report finds
In Kerr County, the July 4 flood is expected to quadruple serious emotional disturbances in children and more than triple adult PTSD cases this year.
House Republicans propose stricter voting requirements as Trump administration eyes the midterms
House Republicans are proposing sweeping changes to the nation’s voting laws
Will Republicans break their losing streak on health care reform?
Republicans have repeatedly failed to successfully field an alternative to ObamaCare, but their new “Great Healthcare Plan” released in January offers some promising ideas, such as pric…
After assault on Ilhan Omar, Trump responds with another blame-the-victim conspiracy theory
President Donald Trump did it after the 2021 attack on the US Capitol. He did it after the 2022 attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He did it after the murder last month of filmmaker and Democratic activist Rob Reiner. And he did it again on Tuesday after an attack on another Democrat, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
New study shows WVU, WVU Health System have huge impact on West Virginia
President Michael T. Benson and Albert L. Wright, Jr. share details from the Tripp Umbach Economic Impact Report.
Abortion Pill Safety Decisions by FDA Were Science-Based, New JAMA Study Finds — The Monitor
A new study found the FDA’s abortion pill decisions followed scientific evidence, as misleading claims about the drug’s safety continue to shape public understanding. And Google removed some health AI summaries after a Guardian investigation reported that AI-generated summaries contained false and potentially dangerous health information.
More KC businesses train workers on ICE protocols
Kansas City business owners are prepping staff for rising ICE activity in workplaces.
Marsh's fourth-quarter profit rises on strength in insurance business
Insurance broker Marsh reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by robust performance in its risk and insurance services business.
Campaign over, Wu has to take on the messy work of running City Hall
Right on schedule, the adrenaline jolt of the campaign trail has been replaced by the much more challenging day-to-day grunt work of running city government.
FAU Honors Craig Zinn as Business Leader of the Year
Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business recently hosted a ceremony to honor Craig Zinn, an American automotive entrepreneur and philanthropist, as its 31st “Business Leader of the Year” event.
Driving Habits Provide Window Into Seniors' Brain Health
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Larry Duncan valued driving as part of his independence. But Duncan — a retired business owner from Pinehurst, North Carolina — started to become more nervous behind the wheel prior to his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s ...
Commentary: Farewell to Peter Duesberg, a godfather of scientific disinformation
Peter Duesberg squandered his scientific reputation by advancing a debunked theory about AIDS, but his influence on anti-vaccine activists lives on.
Dispatch is censored on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and this might be the reason why
Nudity and other mature content has reportedly been censored in the Nintendo versions…
Lions may have Georgia Tech QB on NFL draft radar
The Detroit Lions reportedly talked with Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King at the Shrine Bowl.
SBA programs for native businesses face scrutiny
The Native Hawaiian Organizations Association is urging President Donald Trump’s administration to distinguish between “isolated allegations” about the Small Business Administration’s program aimed at developing native-run businesses and its success expanding economic opportunity, as U.S. Rep. Ed Case calls for a formal review.
What to know about the Melania Trump documentary
As Melania Trump prepares to walk the red carpet at the newly rebranded Kennedy Center Thursday evening, she is proving that a peek behind the curtain of her life isn’t just a historical record, but a multi-million-dollar commodity.
The cost of health care, not food or rent, is now Americans’ top worry
As politicians prepare their pitches for the midterm elections, a survey finds that about 1 in 3 Americans are “very worried” about health care costs.
Health Care Costs Tops the Public’s Economic Worries as the Runup to the Midterms Begins; Independent Voters Are More Likely to Trust Democrats than Republicans on the Issue
Heading into this midterm election year, the cost of health care tops the public’s economic anxieties and more than 4 in 10 voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote, this KFF Health Tracking poll finds.
KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms
Looking ahead to the midterm elections, health care costs are the public’s top economic concern, and many voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote. On health care issues, including the cost of health care, voters currently trust Democrats more than Republicans, though neither party has an advantage on addressing the overall cost of living. Following the expiration of the ACA enhanced tax credits, two-thirds of the public say Congress did the “wrong thing” by not extending them.
Full-length Replay: Big East Men's: DePaul at Georgetown
From Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Iconic sports bar in Palo Alto reopens and prepares for the Super Bowl
Businesses are getting ready for big crowds and watch parties; that includes an iconic spot in Palo Alto that just reopened in time for the Super Bowl.
Lakers' top trade target revealed ahead of next week's deadline
Los Angeles is reportedly eyeing this defensive specialist.
Alibaba to merge with China's Zelos on $2 billion robovan business, WSJ reports
Alibaba's logistics arm plans to merge its autonomous-driving unit Cainiao with China's Zelos Technology, forming a new entity valued at approximately $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
International Business Machines Corp (IBM) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Revenue ...
IBM reports its highest revenue growth in years, driven by software and infrastructure performance, while setting ambitious goals for AI and hybrid cloud advancements.
Full-length Replay: Round One: Dominica vs Belize
From Estadio Miguel Chocorrón Buitrago in Managua, Nicaragua.
Rep. Ilhan Omar points finger at Trump's 'hateful rhetoric' after town hall attack
The man accused of carrying out the assault has social media accounts that include multiple photos in support of Trump and criticizing Democrats. The FBI is investigating.
Health officials report new measles exposure in Mesa
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health says there was an exposure at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.
Titans reportedly to hire Greg Lewis as wide receivers coach
The Tennessee Titans have reportedly found their new wide receivers coach.
Short-seller report accuses Carvana of overstating earnings
After the report, written by Gotham City Research but not naming an author, was released, the share value tumbled about 14%.
Full-length Replay: Big 12 Men's: Baylor at Cincinnati
From Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.
Tri-County Community Health Coalition releases first unified health report in Fox Valley
With the Unified Health Report, organizations across the Fox Valley now have the same information on local health problems and can plan together.
Takeaways from CNN’s Minnesota town hall
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in a CNN town hall Wednesday night, stood by the city’s sanctuary policies and repeated his demand that federal immigration agents leave the city.
Brit Hume: Minnesota immigration operations have hit ‘political limits’
Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume assesses new polling that suggests Americans believe I.C.E. operations are aggressive on ‘Special Report.’
America at a Boiling Point: From ICE Protests to an Attack on Rep. Omar
An attack at a town hall in Minneapolis, amid a surge in threats against lawmakers, was the latest sign of the fraying of the nation’s political fabric.
Business Coach Arnaud CZ Releases Free Course to Help Corporate Fathers Build Side Income Amid Rising Job Uncertainty
PRAGUE, CZECHIA, Jan. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arnaud CZ, founder of the $100k Dad system, specializing in corporate-to-entrepreneur transit...
Older adults’ driving habits offer window into brain health, cognitive decline
Research Highlights: A study of over 200 adults followed for five years found that greater white matter damage in the brain was linked to decreased driving, fewer trips, repetitive routes and having more driving errors, especially in those who later ...
Carmen Bricillo, Shea Tierney joining Brian Daboll with Tennessee Titans
Shea Tierney, Carmen Bricillo reportedly heading to Tennessee.
Geoff Mason, Sports Producer Thrust Into Covering Terrorism, Dies at 85
He played a critical role in ABC Sports’s reporting on the attack by a Palestinian group at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich that left 11 Israeli team members dead.
Chicago mother claims unsafe conditions in apartment are harming her children's health
A mother of four living in a subsidized housing apartment on the 4800 block of North Avers says unsafe conditions inside her unit are putting her children’s health at risk — and despite months of repair requests, she says little has changed.
Teen Mental Health and School-Based Services in California
About 3 in 10 California teens report serious psychological distress, yet significant gaps exist between the need for mental health care and receipt of services. This report examines teen mental health and access to care across demographic groups and describes how state and district funding have expanded school-based solutions.
Policy Brief: Teen Mental Health and School-Based Services in California
Rates of chronic sadness and suicidal thoughts in teens have been rising in California—and nationwide—since about 2009. Significant gaps exist between the reported need for mental health care and receipt of services. The state has recently invested $8 billion for child and teen mental health, including school-based services.
Rick Scott launches video series spotlighting Florida entrepreneurs
'Everything is possible when you work hard.'
How Do Menopause and a Treatment to Manage Its Symptoms Affect the Brain and Mental Health?
New research suggests an association between menopause and anxiety, depression and shrinkage in certain brain regions—which hormone replacement therapy might not mitigate
Trump endorses Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin's open race for governor
Trump announced the endorsement in a social media post on Tuesday night, saying Tiffany “has always been at my side.”
Trump's response to Pretti killing upends Second Amendment politics : Here & Now Anytime
Alex Pretti was legally carrying a gun when a federal agent shot and killed him in Minneapolis last weekend. President Trump and other federal officials blamed his death on the fact that he had a gun, but Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus chair Bryan Strawser explains why he disagrees.And, after leading immigration operations in Minneapolis, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino has returned to his previous job in California. CalMatters investigative reporter Sergio Olmos talks about Bovino’s record in California.
Republicans Gave ICE a Slush Fund. Democrats Want to Limit It.
The sweeping domestic policy law that Republicans muscled through Congress last year made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the country, with no strings attached.
What we're learning about the man arrested in the attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar
Anthony Kazmierczak hadn't been formally charged or scheduled for an initial court appearance as of Wednesday morning.
Tom Brady, Robert Kraft respond on Bill Belichick's reported HOF snub: 'If he's not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there's really no coach that should ever be'
Hialeah man accused of stalking, planting tracker on ex-business partner’s car in Doral
A 44-year-old man from Hialeah was arrested Tuesday after police said he repeatedly stalked a former business associate and installed a tracking device on the victim’s vehicle.
Sacramento Bee adds political reporting firepower at California Capitol
Ben Paviour will join The Bee next month as California Political Power Reporter, delivering exclusive storytelling on Statehouse politics.
Iran delegates import powers as US war threats keep economy unstable
Iranian governors gain new powers as country prepares for possible war amid sanctions and looming geopolitical tensions.
Patriots Rival Reportedly Loses Defensive Coordinator, Longtime Coach To Packers
The New England Patriots are gearing up for the Super Bowl, but two of their division rivals are in the middle of coaching changes. The Miami Dolphins fired Mike McDaniel to hire Jeff Hafley, the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator for the last two years. The Buffalo Bills promoted Joe Brady to head coach from […]
Brillstein Entertainment Partners Signs Comedian, Actor & Writer Paul Chowdhry
Paul Chowdhry, the comedian, actor, and writer, has inked with Brillstein for global management in all areas, Deadline can report exclusively.
Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors: Bucks listening on deals for star
Giannis Antetokounmpo has indicated he's ready to move on from the Bucks, and Milwaukee is reportedly willing to listen to offers. Here's the latest.
Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz reportedly wants 'out' after being passed over for head coaching job
With Apple’s new Creator Studio Pro, AI is a tool to aid creation, not replace it
Apple’s Creator Studio Pro leverages AI to help creators with tedious tasks—like finding clips or building slides—without trying to do the work for them
Baton Rouge Republican joins race for Julia Letlow's U.S. House seat
After U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow entered the U.S. Senate race following an endorsement from President Donald Trump, candidates are lining up to to run for her seat.
Florida Sheriffs swing behind Byron Donalds in Governor’s race
Law enforcement support builds as Donalds consolidates Republican primary momentum statewide
Leadership turmoil returns to Hispanic Silicon Valley business group
For the second time in seven years, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley has found itself embroiled in a leadership dispute that has led to the sudden ouster and replacement of multiple board members.
Sames Auto Arena serves as entertainment hub with 2026 event lineup
In 2026, familiar and big names are returning to the stage, and the Sames Auto Arena is preparing for even more.
Google Pixel’s Tensor chip said to help weather a rocky smartphone market in 2026
A new report forecasts the smartphone chipset market through 2026, and claims that Google’s efforts in building Tensor for Pixel...
Here's what to know about the $50 billion states are getting for rural health
To satisfy Republicans opposed to last summer's cuts to health care, the Trump administration launched an ambitious 5-year initiative known as the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Trump endorses Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin's open race for governor
President Donald Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s open race for governor
Business Success
Ohio Wesleyan Celebrates Innovation at Second Annual U.S. Entrepreneurship Competition
The Unsettling Experience of Reporting on Trump’s Health
Chatting with Intelligencer’s Ben Terris about presidential hand bruises and White House sycophancy.
As More Founders Aim To Build Billion-Dollar, One-Person Businesses, New Research Points To High-Potential Niches
A new report points to areas where it is possible for solo founders to grow to $1 billion in revenue using AI, blockchain and a global team of freelancers.
Starbucks Says Turnaround ‘Ahead of Schedule’ as Sales Rebound
The coffee chain’s stock jumped after a better-than-expected earnings report.
Our first look at Google's Android for PC interface leaks in a bug report
We may have our first look at Android for desktop.
The US in brief: DHS’s first report on Pretti
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
Peter Murray Tapped as CEO of Professional Bowlers Association and Head of Media for Lucky Strike Entertainment (Exclusive)
Murray had been the founding CFO of the MMA promotion Professional Fighters League.
Mental health cases in Israel surged 30% during Gaza war, Health Ministry reports
***
Top Five Moments: Budget Committee Hearing on Skyrocketing Health Care Costs
The Official U.S. Congressional website of The Republican Budget Committee
Scientists turn tumor immune cells into cancer killers
Scientists at KAIST have found a way to turn a tumor’s own immune cells into powerful cancer fighters—right inside the body. Tumors are packed with macrophages, immune cells that should attack cancer but are usually silenced by the tumor environment. By injecting a specially designed drug directly into tumors, researchers were able to “reprogram” these dormant cells to recognize and destroy cancer.
National Institutes of Health Need Agencywide Strategy to Prioritize and Fund Pediatric Research, Says New Report
Childhood health is foundational to lifelong well-being. A new National Academies report makes recommendations on how NIH and Congress can best support pediatric health research and improve health outcomes through childhood and beyond.
Disaster Preparedness: How Measurement Science Can Help Your Community
Firsthand experience with natural disasters inspired a NIST researcher to study how communities prepare for — and recover from — disasters.
This week in Santa Cruz County business: Scotts Valley solar cell company goes dark; passing the torch at Alta Organic Coffee
In her weekly look at Santa Cruz County business, Jessica M. Pasko reports on the demise of Ambient Photonics, notes a generational shift at a local coffee roaster and delivers names, numbers and events to know.
Night Owls Have Worse Heart Health, Study Finds
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterWEDNESDAY, Jan. 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Do you prefer to stay up late, living it up through the night while everyone else is snoozing away? You might be doing your heart health a disservice, a new study says. Middle-aged and older night owls appear to have ...
Investment and Statecraft: The International Politics of Sovereign Wealth Funds - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
In 1953, Kuwait established the world’s first sovereign wealth fund to invest the country’s oil revenues and generate returns that would reduce its reliance on a single resource. Since then, over 100 separate funds have been created to preserve national wealth and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Today, they manage over $10 trillion in global assets. In this discussion with GJIA, political economist Kathryn Lavelle explains the increasingly novel dynamics that surround fund behavior and what the world can come to expect from their growing presence in international financial markets. GJIA: When it comes to the roles sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) play in global markets and politics, what would you say makes them unique? Kathryn Lavelle: Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operate on behalf of governments as investors. That in itself is a strange relationship. Within them, a core contest takes place between the state’s interests (or sovereign) part of the dynamic, and the money interests (or wealth) part of it, and these two aspects are frequently in contradiction, serving fundamentally different goals. SWFs are also quite fascinating because when you talk to the people who manage these funds, they have an interest in convincing you that the decisions are made almost exclusively on a financial basis—they really will go to great lengths to differentiate their government owners and those who make the management decisions. At the same time, these people ultimately answer to someone in power. Therefore, for most SWFs, it remains deeply unclear who is actually making the investment decisions and for what purposes. Of course, it is not always clear how other vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity make the decisions they do, but I think what a lot of people find particularly disconcerting about SWFs is that they seem to act on behalf of people who have a different identity from their own. People who could be trying to manipulate politics and markets in a way that would have a long-term effect on their own populations. Regular investors come and go at will, and they only share an interest in profit as far as most of us understand. However, SWFs have that extra “sovereign” part right behind them that obscures their true interest. GJIA: These funds can be found in countries all across the globe, in both authoritarian states and democracies. Would you say SWFs differ in their goals and structures between regime-type? KL: It is not necessarily regime type that makes the goals and structures of SWFs different. It has to do with their economies. Let’s look at a country like China. There’s going to be a debate about exactly how to characterize the regime, but it is a country with many different kinds of sovereign wealth funds, and a particularly opaque state connection to each. At one time, some of the state-owned Chinese oil companies created specialized investment vehicles listed outside Chinese markets that excluded parts of the firms that were more associated with human rights violations. At the same time, the China Investment Corporation (CIC)—China’s largest SWF—draws a lot of concern, not necessarily because of its investment activities, but because of the dynamics of global politics. So, I wouldn’t really tie differences to regime types themselves in a wholesale way, but rather to how such funds are perceived and how they are structured. Saudi Arabia’s SWF is getting all kinds of attention for its involvement in Hollywood, and this takes me right back to when I was a student in the 1980s, when people were concerned about Japanese investment entities buying assets in Hollywood. They aren’t quite the same in financial terms, but it’s the same kind of concern about foreign investment that drives people to be suspicious, and the whole idea that “foreigners are influencing Hollywood.” This holds true across industries, and it reflects where politics are in places like the United States right now. One metric we can try to look at is transparency, where all the funds will tell you, “we are transparent.” The problem you’ll keep running into with this approach is how you value things. When trying to do comparative studies of equity markets, you’ll find that every country doesn’t use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles like we do in the United States. A fund may appear opaque politically and not want people to show what they’re invested in or what their intent with that investment is, but they could also just not be able to report it because of the way it was purchased, or the kinds of shares they purchased. There are some assets out there that really are difficult to put a monetary value on. GJIA: To what extent do domestic politics shape SWF behavior in both the investing “home” country and the recipient “host” country? KL: This depends on the type of fund present and also on the extent to which voters’ political views are able to influence the fund. For example, in a democratic home state like Norway, the SWF doesn’t invest in nuclear weapons or tobacco because of social concerns, but there is a continuing debate over whether it should invest in oil, even though that’s where most of the money comes from. The degree to which Norway will continue to make those investments, and whether they contradict the government’s overall climate goals, is an open question in Norwegian politics. Because of the way the fund’s governance is structured, it may not be easy to resolve. On the other hand, some people consider pension funds, like the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) in Ohio, to be quasi-SWF. They have a very strict separation between the people who make up the management division and the fund owners. No teacher or professor would want to invest in things that may harm the future of their students. At the same time, a fund manager might see an opportunity in a diversified multinational corporation that offers a good return, despite it deriving part of its revenue from e-cigarettes. These contests are very apparent. Domestic politics can work in host countries too. A good example is Singapore’s SWF, Temasek, investing in Thailand’s telecommunications sector. If you study political economy, you already know that countries everywhere are uncomfortable with foreign ownership of their telecom sectors because a foreign entity could monitor or manipulate our communications with each other. In the case of Temasek, there was significant pushback from Thai citizens surrounding the deal, which went on to influence national political sentiment toward Singapore as a whole, underscoring the risks some SWFs may face with their investment choices. In this case, fund behavior led to the dissolution of the entire Thai government in 2006 and a subsequent coup d’état. GJIA: To address some of this unease, the Santiago Principles were established in 2009 to ostensibly promote trust and transparency. From your perspective, have these mechanisms actually changed fund behavior? KL: In international relations theory, we always like to have a clear set of norms and best practices—the orientation we want the proverbial ship to be going in. In that regard, the Santiago Principles at least got the discussion going about which direction SWFs should take at a time when people were very skittish about the growing size of these funds. Nobody wanted them to be out there and potentially destabilizing economies, so talks about disclosure, conditions for withdrawal, and the independence of managers were helpful when initiated. The biggest stumbling block was that there wasn’t exactly a good way to measure compliance with the Principles, let alone how to hold funds to them. If you read the Principles, they’re overall quite vague. In general, a fund doesn’t want to reveal how and why they make certain investment decisions because that information is proprietary—a fund makes money off of how and why it makes decisions—so how do you reconcile that with loosely-defined ideas of openness? Some decisions might have a political purpose. The bottom line is that trying to figure out and assign a score to compliance is not easy, and it is therefore the reason why the Santiago Principles never really got off the ground to the point where they could truly direct fund behavior. GJIA: Many emerging markets are looking to build their own SWFs from mineral and oil revenues. Historically, have funds shaped development trajectories in these countries? KL: I think the big story in international emerging markets investment is that the investment is increasingly no longer unidirectional. In the past multinational corporations of primarily Western background were the main form of foreign direct investment in a country. That has changed dramatically, to the point where you have companies from so-called “developing countries” taking over companies in the United States. Therefore, the landscape of international investment has changed, and I think SWFs are certainly a possibility to be the next step in the game. Historically, you didn’t need an entire financial vehicle to reinvest commodity revenues in your country, but as emerging markets get more financially sophisticated, their capacity to operate such funds has increased. SWFs would allow treasuries to move from relying on holding foreign exchange assets like cash or government bonds to having broader financial markets and targeted growth areas, while easing pressure on welfare expenditures. GJIA: With their increasing financial weight, do you see the presence of SWFs being a factor in the political choices leaders will have to make with regard to domestic and foreign policy? KL: It will depend on just how big the funds get. One of the reasons people are already apprehensive is because of their scale, and if certain SWFs in certain countries achieve a large-enough size, the presence will absolutely be cause for concern. The other factor political leaders will have to consider are their objectives. It’s not always clear how to define a SWF, or even where its activity is concentrated, but it is certainly a worry from the perspective of national security of opaque external investment. More than that, I think one of the most interesting questions going forward is whether the United States, the home to the world’s largest financial markets, will develop its own fund, for which the Trump administration announced a plan. There have also been several proposals in Congress. Were it to come into being, it would have tremendous weight. At the same time, one of the hallmarks of U.S. capitalism is a lack of government ownership of shares, so it would not be clear how such a fund would be received in domestic politics, or which direction it would take. Given how politically fragmented the country is, a Democratic administration would likely be concerned about different sectors of the economy, such as healthcare, and want investment there, rather than a Republican administration, which might prefer defense industries. No investment vehicle could thrive under conditions of such instability. Moreover, it remains unclear where the money to fund a theoretical U.S. SWF would come from. It would be a fundamentally different entity depending on whether it is financed with debt, economic surplus, commodities, or the sale of state companies, as in the case of Singapore. If it is debt, or government borrowing of some form, then the fund would have to outperform whatever the cost of that debt is, which is not an easy thing to do. I think our political leaders have enough on their plate. Our system has worked well keeping political and investment functions generally separate. We have seen different forms of business rise and fall, and even the perception of different countries, all of which funds are tied to. Unless a major SWF either starts—like in the case of the United States—or collapses—an issue that concerns the Saudis, I don’t see any political tsunamis on the horizon. . . . Kathryn Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research explores the exchange between domestic and international and political institutions with a particular emphasis on political economy and multilateralism. Dr. Lavelle’s first book, The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets, explored the political circumstances that surround large issues of stock in the developing world. After being granted tenure at Case Western, she was awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship and named the William A. Steiger fellow, a designation given to the most promising political scientist in her class of fellows. While in Washington during 2006-2007, she worked on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services on issues related to domestic and international monetary policy. Dr. Lavelle holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University; an M.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia; and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgetown University. She is a permanent member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Interview conducted by Sid Mehrotra. Image Credit: Jason Leung, Unsplash Content Licenses, via Unsplash