Who are you gonna call when a government takes your money? Investors sometimes forget that the flip side of potentially supernormal returns is extreme risk, and one of the biggest risks of all is when governments simply expropriate assets. For example, South American countries, helped by the likes of Venezuela and Argentina, account for 30 per cent of all cases registered with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the arbitration body that deals with fights between investors and states.
要是政府拿走了你的钱,你会去找谁?投资者有时会忘记一点:高回报也意味着高风险,而最大的风险就是:资产被政府没收。比如说,国际投资争端解决中心(International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes,处理投资者与政府之间纠纷的仲裁机构)登记的案件中,有30%都发生在委内瑞拉、阿根廷等南美国家。