George Soros (b. 1930)
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Who They Were
George Soros (born 1930) is a Hungarian-born American investor and philanthropist, one of the best-known hedge fund managers of the late twentieth century. Having survived Nazi-occupied Hungary as a child, he emigrated and eventually built a career in finance in the United States, founding the investment operation later known as the Quantum Fund. He became famous for large, macroeconomic bets on currencies, interest rates, and markets. In 1992 his fund's bet against the British pound during a European currency crisis earned it a reported fortune and the label of the trader who broke the Bank of England. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis he became a lightning rod for regional anger over currency speculation. Alongside his investing he became a major philanthropist, funding pro-democracy and civil-society causes through his foundations.
Key Contributions
Soros is associated above all with global macro investing - taking large positions based on expected shifts in national economies and exchange rates. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, some regional officials, including Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, publicly blamed him for currency speculation that they said worsened the turmoil, a charge Soros disputed. Episodes like these made him a central figure in debates over the power of private capital to move sovereign currencies and the vulnerability of fixed exchange-rate regimes to speculative pressure. He also wrote about markets, advancing an idea he called reflexivity, the notion that investors' perceptions can feed back into and reshape the fundamentals they are trying to assess. Beyond finance, he directed much of his wealth into philanthropy supporting open societies.
On EconRecall
Hungarian-born American hedge fund manager famous for currency bets, including the 1992 wager against the pound; a lightning rod in the 1997 Asian crisis. Play the games that feature George Soros: