Thanks for the replies.  I'm not too concerned about the EDD overall expense ratio, because 2% or so of that 3.24% is the cost of leverage.  1.03%, listed as "other expense" is interest paid on a  $225MM loan, and another 1% (shown within the 2.2% management fee) is the interest cost of a reverse repo in the amount of $220MM, which is in reality an additional loan.  When the two are combined, the $445MM provide about 25% leverage to the fund, compared to 10% leverage for AWF and about 5% for EMD.  3% total expense ratio is not unusual for a fund leveraged to 25% of total assets, but the cost is usually less visible via use of auction preferred shares, since the cost (dividends) thereof is not expensed.

The morgan stanley downgrade was due to a belief that emerging market currencies and credit ratings would suffer in the post-credit crunch environment.  Guess that remains to be seen, but all of these CEF seem to have suffered excessively, given the larger discounts, and with similar portfolios, maybe all deserve a harder look. Any other thoughts will be appreciated.