From the UK to Iceland, pension funds are being asked to stump up for economic stimulus policies. These might look like prudent schemes generously bailing out debt-ridden governments. But if anything, it's more like they are taking advantage of their strength versus government weakness.

Iceland's pension funds - which weathered the country's financial collapse surprisingly well - have agreed to "put their shoulder to the wheel" of Iceland's economic recovery, in the words of the country's central bank governor, by buying housing bonds from the government.