26 September 2012

"Hedge funds"

In the beginning, all collective investment schemes (that raised public money to invest) were regulated by Securities law to ensure full disclosure, minimum asymmetry in information between insiders and outsiders, and good corporate governance to protect investors who are not in control.  In 1949, Alfred Winslow Jones started a fund that "would raise money only from wealthy individuals" but would not be governed by Securities law.  He called it a "hedged fund".  Thousands followed and became $ 2,400 billion hedge fund industry.  Here is a great infographic from PerTrac about hedge funds: