(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Pension funds are the ocean liners of global markets. In the U.S. alone, state and local retirement funds have $4.57 trillion in assets. Across the developed world, the pool of money is close to $30 trillion. That means any change in their investment allocation, no matter how incremental, can create a seismic shift in certain corners of finance. The hedge-fund industry, for example, swelled over the past two decades in no small part because of eager pension managers.