Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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On page 2 of the written report furnished by Professor Lane which deals with the search for yield, he refers to synthetic higher risk assets that offered higher interest rates. He states, "Alternative investment products that offered the promise of higher returns also grew rapidly (hedge funds, private equity), with these entities taking on high debt loads in view of the low interest rate environment and the high risk tolerance on the part of investors." Was all of this developing into a situation where what might be seen as investment in staid entities, these funds were chasing higher yields by taking higher risks?