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The quip about Yale being a hedge fund was funny before the financial crisis and in a loose sense some of the wealthiest colleges in the US seem to behave like
by chalst 5y ago
The quip about Yale being a hedge fund was funny before the financial crisis and in a loose sense some of the wealthiest colleges in the US seem to behave like an educational frosting on an asset-maximising endowment.
If there are any similar institutions in the UK, they are the wealthiest Oxbridge colleges. The students at these places do not so much think their degrees are overpriced.
- nimish 5y agoYale's former CIO is regarded as an incredibly successful investment manager in general. That joke was far more true than people think -- the Yale model is now common in institutional investment. Few oxbridge colleges are anywhere near as wealthy in comparison, and a lot have gigantic white elephants with their grade I listed buildings that are falling apart.
- chalst 5y agoI don't keep up on the exact rankings of the Oxbridge colleges, but there is a huge difference in the wealth of the richest colleges from the average of the rest. Long before Yale, King's College Cambridge pioneered sophisticated investment management: Keynes turned around the college's assets on the 1930s during the Great Depression to become level with the traditionally wealthiest Cambridge college, Trinity, which had long had vast property assets. https://www.nber.org/papers/w20421 https://www.nber.org/papers/w20421