AEI is inaugurating a series of conferences to increase the level of understanding of the role of hedge funds in global capital markets.

 The pursuit of extraordinary returns on investment has created a hedge-fund culture of secrecy, as hedge-fund managers guard their profit-reaping strategies. As an infant industry limited to a small customer base of very rich private individuals, hedge funds passed unnoticed by the press and by government watchdogs. They have now become a major component of the financial markets with an expanded retail and institutional investor universe. This closed society has aroused fear and suspicion in the public mind, encouraging media interest and spurring fledgling efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the industry. Please join a panel of practitioners and academics in a discussion on the prospect of regulating hedge funds and on the hedge-fund industry more generally.