But This Time It's Different
Universities as Hedge Funds: Ivy Towers and Illiquid Assets
29 May 2025
Description
In this episode, Sinead and Alex unpack how university endowments went from sleepy ivory tower piggy banks to Wall Street-grade investment machines. They trace the rise of the Yale model, poke fun at Columbia’s lackluster (cough) returns, and dive into the messier realities of geopolitical risk, political blowback, and the illusion of “perpetuity.” It's a fast-moving look at how elite institutions are facing a credibility crisis, and what happens when the money behind the marble columns starts to dry up.
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