Gregory White
Business Insider
April 6, 2010
George Soros has brought together a crack team of the world’s top economists and financial thinkers.
Its aim: To remake the world’s economy as they see fit.
The New Institute of Economic Thinking is to be centered in London, but also fund programs around the world, the first of which will be in Oxford.
In order to reinvent economic thinking, he’s brought together a crack team of top economic minds.
They’re a “Justice League” if you will.
The Note-taker: Anatole Kaletsky
Likes: Writing economic columns for The Times, spending money
Dislikes: Saving money
Interests: Has been writing about finance and economics since he started at The Economist in 1976.
The California Dreamer: Axel Leijonhufvud
Likes: Macroeconomic theory, particularly neoclassical approaches
Dislikes: Keynesian macroeconomic theory
Interests: Teaching at UCLA
The Tree Hugger: Duncan Foley
The Information: George Arthur Akerlof
Likes: Information asymmetry
Dislikes: The fact that people construe his theories to support anti-abortion campaigns
Interests: Polishing his Nobel Prize, teaching at Berkeley
The Rule Maker: Charles Goodhart
Likes: Goodhart’s Law
Dislikes: Setting economic indicators as targets
Interests: Former London School of Economics Professor and member of their Financial Markets Group
The Doctor: Sir David Hendry
Likes: Being a Knight, his 7 honorary doctorates
Dislikes: When people don’t cite him
Interests: Teaching at Oxford
The Developer: Ian Goldin
Likes: Development, particularly African
Dislikes: People who are against aid for Africa
Interests: Teaching at Oxford, the World Bank
The Many Board Member: William Janeway
Likes: Advising on leveraged buyouts, being on lots of boards
Dislikes: Not having his name on Roubini Global Economics, which he is a board member of
Interests: His primary job at private equity firm Warburg Pincus
The Villager: Jeffrey D. Sachs
Likes: Blaming Barack Obama for climate change policy failure
Dislikes: When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon phones him late at night for advice
Interests: Being Director of The Earth Institute, chilling on the quad at Columbia, running the Millennium Villages project
The Scotsman: John Kay
Likes: Being pro-business, but not necessarily pro-market
Dislikes: The gap between the rich and poor
Interests: Being a professor at the London School of Economics, advising the Scottish Government
The Peace Lover: John Shattuck
Likes: Human Rights
Dislikes: International crimes against humanity
Interests: Being President of the Budapest based Central European University
The Scrapper: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Likes: Fighting with hedge fund managers
Dislikes: Barack Obama’s bank bailout, the Fed’s corruption
Interests: Teaching at Columbia, global governance
The Chess Master: Kenneth Rogoff
Likes: Chess
Dislikes: Debt
Interests: Teaching at Harvard, writing epic books covering 800 years of economic history
The Risk Player: Markus K. Brunnermeier
Perry G. Mehrling
Likes: Writing about the credit crisis
Dislikes: People who overvalue Scholes in the Black-Scholes equation
Interests: Teaching at Barnard
Debate Team Captain: Sir James Alexander Mirrlees, FBA
Likes: Being introduced as both a Nobel Laureate and Knight
Dislikes: Moral hazard
Interests: Debate team
The Fund Manager: Robert Dugger
Likes: Government policy’s impact on the market
Dislikes: Thinking about the time he had to come up with a solution for the Savings and Loan crisis
Interests: Being a managing director at Tudor Funds
The Perfectionist: Roman Frydman
Likes: Studying the economic impact of a move from communism to capitalism
Dislikes: Imperfection
Interests: Hanging out in Washington Square Park, teaching at NYU
The Mother Teresa of Economics: Amartya Sen
Likes: His Nobel Prize, his 80 honorary doctorates
Dislikes: Possibly his nickname
Interests: Teaching at Harvard, OXFAM
The Entrepreneur: Simon Johnson
Likes: Entrepreneurship
Dislikes: Having to write that New York Times blog every week
Interests: Teaching at MIT, his website Baseline Scenario
The Flowbee: Andrew Michael Spence
Likes: Thinking about information flows
Dislikes: Having to share his Nobel Prize with Stiglitz and Akerlof
Interests: Getting prepped to start teaching at NYU
The Wonk: Thomas Ferguson
Likes: Talking about politics
Dislikes: When people say politics don’t matter
Interests: Wandering Boston Commons while teaching at UMass Boston
The Mountie: William White
Likes: Being right when Greenspan was wrong
Dislikes: People lauding him for his prediction of the economic crisis (aww shucks)
Interests: Hanging out, retired, in Canada
The Chief Economist: Willem Hendrik Buiter
Likes: Working on fixing the faults at Citigroup
Dislikes: Handling his many different passports
Interests: Hanging out at the London School of Economics
The Civil Servant: Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy
Likes: Working on India’s economy
Dislikes: People who don’t respect long term civil servants
Interests: Collecting honorary degrees and government titles
The Token China Member: Yu Yongding
Likes: Writing about the Chinese economy
Dislikes: Thinking about his time working in the Chinese machine factory
Interests: Macroeconomics, world economics, and writing books
The Grand Master: George Soros
Likes: Having lots of money, betting against the pound
Dislikes: Fannie and Freddie
Interests: Remaking the world in his economic image, showing up to Carlyle Group meetings
