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This thesis compares Norway, Botswana and Venezuela and their sovereign wealth funds. The first two countries are referred to as exceptions to the theory of the resource curse, which explains the phenomenon that shows that countries with a high dependence on income from the export of natural resources have a slower rate of economic, political and institutional development. On the contrary, Venezuela (although it was considered an exception in the past) is severely affected by this phenomenon and thus serves as a negative example in this thesis. The thesis focuses on state sovereign wealth funds and examines whether and under what conditions these funds have an effect on reversing the resource curse. Based on the theoretical part, five key characteristics are identified that the fund must meet in order to function against the negative manifestations of the curse of natural resources - (1) offsetting the effects of volatility, (2) diversifying the economy, (3) budgetary policy, (4) controlling the allocation of expenditure, (5) transparency of funds. Based on these characteristics, it is possible to observe that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund works best from selected funds as a defense against the resource curse, followed by the Botswana fund and third by the Venezuelan fund. Norway and Botswana...

Sovereign Wealth Funds have been regarded as investment vehicles established in order to manage, in a rational and profi t-oriented way, pools of national wealth for future generations. SWFs are among the most important fi nancial institutions in global fi nancial markets, and constitute a solid element in the architecture of the international fi nancial safety net. Similarly to other institutional investors, Sovereign Wealth Funds possess huge amounts of capital. What distinguishes them the most from other fi nancial institutions is the fact that they are owned, managed and controlled by sovereign states, have limited liquidity needs, a lower-than-market-average-level of redemption risk, a long-term, intergenerational investment horizon and relatively high risk tolerance. The question of whether investment from Sovereign Wealth Funds determines changes in corporate fi nancial performance of a targeted fi rm is still unanswered question in the literature. This study tests empirically the impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds’ ownership on the fi nancial performance of targeted companies. Using the data of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, we employ regression to analyze the relationship between the funds’ investment and accounting, as well as the market outcomes of the fi rm. The empirical fi ndings of this research suggest that Sovereign Wealth Funds’ ownership has a positive infl uence on the price to book value of the fi rm. This article contributes to ongoing research in the fi eld of studies related to fi nancial aspects of SWF’s investment behavior. The empirical fi ndings of this research can also serve as a useful reference for companies and academics concerning themselves with investment decision making in emerging markets, as well as the role of institutional investors.