Masters in Business At The Money: Better Results By NOT Investing with Dictators!
10 snips
Jan 14, 2026 Perth Tolle, founder of the Life and Liberty Indexes and creator of the Freedom 100 EM Index, shares her vision for investing without supporting autocracies. She discusses the importance of screening emerging markets for freedom and explains the ethical implications for investors. Tolle details her methodology, utilizing the Human Freedom Index to guide investment decisions and avoid dictatorships like China and Russia. Her approach champions ethical allocation while showcasing the potential of freer emerging markets to foster growth. A groundbreaking perspective on responsible investing!
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Market-Cap Weighting Favors Autocracies
- Traditional EM indices overweight large autocracies because they use market-cap weighting.
- Freedom-weighting reallocates to freer countries and reduces exposure to state-dominated markets.
Personal Roots Shaped The Index Idea
- Perth Tolle grew up in Beijing and later worked in Hong Kong, which shaped her view that national policy drives market outcomes.
- Her experiences convinced her that country-level governance substantially affects long-term investment returns.
Freedom Measured By A Composite Index
- The Freedom Index uses the Human Freedom Index (Cato and Fraser) covering 87 variables across civil, political and economic freedom.
- Those composite country scores become the primary input to create freedom-based country weights.