The blame game - Hedge funds, regulators and the credit crisis

Fingers are being pointed at hedge funds for their role in the recent credit crisis, but are the hedgies just easy targets? Noel Amenc suggests that attention should shift to regulators and central banks whose efforts to protect investors have, in some cases, done more harm than good

European leaders, eager to be absolved of responsibility for last summer's crisis, laid blame on the seemingly detrimental role played by hedge funds. France and its president were quick to cast funds in their usual role as scapegoat. Coming from a country with a social and political tradition of blaming its woes on the market, on demands from abroad and on international finance, this condemnation reverberated widely.

Not only is criticism of hedge funds groundless but it helps to hide the true