Hedge funds have aggressively pursued U.S. public pension dollars, maintaining that they offer pension funds absolute return and volatility reduction in exchange for the high management and performance fees that they charge. And many public pension systems, with encouragement from their investment consultants, have made significant allocations to hedge funds, chasing the promise of superior returns and downside protection. These pension funds now have sufficient experience to evaluate whether hedge funds have delivered on their promise, and whether the purported benefits are worth the high fees. This report examines whether hedge funds have, in fact, provided U.S. pension funds better...