As a mere political scientist, I don’t pretend to have any expertise concerning the world of high finance. For folks like me, this article (gated) by Dean P. Foster and H. Peyton Young presents a crystal-clear explanation of the dismal economics of hedge funds. (An earlier version of this article appeared in the Washington Post on December 19, 2007. This more recent version is better, because it more explicitly addresses the perilous situation in which hedge fund investors put themselves.)