(CNNMoney.com) – Do hedge funds harm or help the economy? That question was raised recently not by concerned regulators or central bankers but by one of the most famously successful hedge fund managers in the world.
Speaking at a forum on the capital markets in New York last week, David Shaw, whose D.E. Shaw firm runs about $19 billion in assets, noted that the total pool of assets run by firms described as hedge funds stands at an estimated $1.3 trillion world wide — bigger than the gross domestic product of many countries and large enough to move markets around the world.
But could the combined capital of some funds actually swing the markets in ways that could hurt you?
