http://www.dasinvestment.com/fileadmin/images/pictures/0809_Global_Econ_Paper_No__204_Final.pdf
One of the key takeaways is this useful snapshot of world financial holdings, measured in trillions of US$ (the numbers look plausible, incidentally):
Pension Funds 31 Mutual Funds 22 Insurance Funds 16 SWFs 4 Private Equity 3 Hedge Funds 2 ETFs 1
But don't be fooled by the seemingly tiny share of SWFs (sovereign wealth funds). The report won't say this, but many pension funds and insurance companies are really arms of that scandalous hydra, the developmental state (I'm shamelessly paraphrasing Rediker and Linebaugh's superb title, "The Many-headed Hydra"). Add everything up, and the developmental states went from maybe $3 trillion in holdings in 2000 to around $9 trillion today, about a tenth of the world's financial infrastructure. So while Wall Street was spinning fantasy-CDOs and shadow banking bubbles, the developmental states were quietly building forex reserves, SWFs, innovation funds, banks, and now even ratings agencies (Dagong). Savor the irony: far from being the once and future ueber-predator, the Vampire Squid is being out-evolved.
One, two, many hydras!
-- DRR