International economist Nouriel Roubini, who became famous for having predicted the financial crisis that broke out in the U.S., spoke about his private life in an interview for the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. The newspaper illustrates Roubini’s busy schedule: he was in Toronto for 36 hours and will go for two weeks in Europe, where he will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Milan, London, Berlin and Moscow. He came to Canada after a tour in India, Hong Kong and Mexico.
This is how the nomadic life looks like for one of the most famous economists, Nouriel Roubini, so-called Doctor Doom because he makes gloomy forecasts. From the position of president of his consulting firm Roubini Global Economics, Roubini, who is also professor at the University of New York, spends 60-70% of his time on the road, sleeping on average 4-5 hours per night when traveling.
What Roubini says about:
Wrong forecasts: In 2009, amid the recession, he correctly predicted that developed economies will post an anemic growth, but he was surprised that the quantitative easing policy of the U.S. central bank led to a sustained increase of stock market. He thought that the stock market will remain at the minimum reached in March 2009. Here is where he was wrong, he failed to predict that cheap money and liquidity can lead a rally on the stock exchange, despite the fact that the fundamental indicators of the economy were still fragile.
The image of economists and his celebrity status: he likes to collect contemporary art works, he goes to many art fairs. He likes Damien Hirst and Matthew Barney. For him, geopolitical issues have become more important because you can’t understand the economy if you don’t understand geopolitics. People think that economists have to do only with tables and graphs.
Investment in the stock market: amounts vary over time and he is not an active investor. In 2007, when he began to worry about the global financial crisis, he moved investments in cash and other liquid assets. He thinks that investments have to be made long-term, so he doesn’t buy and sell often. Usually he maintains the structure of a world stock index with titles in the U.S. and the rest of the world, including emerging markets, and when the risks grow, he lowers the amount invested in world markets and move money into more liquid assets.
Celebrity on Twitter, where he has 128,000 people who follow his messages: Lady Gaga has millions, Justin Bieber the same, but, speaking about economists, only Paul Krugman has more than him. And he follows several hundred people. Of all the social networks, he tried them all, Facebook is more like a game, but Twitter is a productive tool. He uses it often and he is dependent on it.
Marriage: he never married because he spends three quarters of his time traveling. Of course, everything is endogenous. You make some decisions. You can be successful professionally, but your personal life takes place somewhere in the back. You can’t have it all.
Properties: He doesn’t have a car, boat or plane. Casually, he wears jeans. He loves the culture, visual arts, literature. He loves very much contemporary art, but usually only buys young artists’ works, even before they have exhibitions. He goes to their shop and buys. It’s a passion, not an investment.
