Jon Hartley and Brad Gerstner discuss Brad’s career, free markets, investing in technology, industrial policy, the CHIPS and Science Act, and baby equity investment accounts.

Recorded on November 1, 2024.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Brad Gerstneris the founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, a tech investment firm based in Silicon Valley, that manages both public and VC investment portfolios. Started in 2008, Altimeter manages over $15bn of investments across its public equity fund and venture capital funds. Brad is also the founder of Invest America, a non-profit that is spearheading research into the creation of private investment accounts for the 3.7 million children born each year in America, unlocking economic mobility for the next generation. Born in Indiana, he studied at Wabash College, Oxford University, Indiana University School of Law and Harvard Business School. He practiced securities law and served a term as Indiana deputy secretary of state before returning to HBS.

Jon Hartley is a Research Assistant at the Hoover Institution and an economics PhD Candidate at Stanford University, where he specializes in finance, labor economics, and macroeconomics. He is also currently a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Jon is also a member of the Canadian Group of Economists, and serves as chair of the Economic Club of Miami.

Jon has previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as well as in various policy roles at the World Bank, IMF, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, US Congress Joint Economic Committee, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Bank of Canada. 

Jon has also been a regular economics contributor for National Review Online, Forbes, and The Huffington Post and has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Globe and Mail, National Post, and Toronto Star among other outlets. Jon has also appeared on CNBC, Fox Business, Fox News, Bloomberg, and NBC, and was named to the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Law & Policy list, the 2017 Wharton 40 Under 40 list, and was previously a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics.

For more information, visit: capitalismandfreedom.substack.com/