Anatole Kaletsky is an economist and financial journalist. He is the co-chairman of the investment research and financial management firm Gavekal. He also sits on the global board of the Open Society Foundations, (OSF) a major international grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and left-of-center philanthropist George Soros.

Kaletsky also sits on the board of Soros’s Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), which Soros founded in 2010 to support research and advocacy for his particular left-of-center economic and financial views. Kaletsky was INET’s founding chairman, a position he held until 2015. ¹

Background

The New Yorker has described Kaletsky as “an old friend” of George Soros, and reported that when Soros first revealed that he had engaged in speculative investing against the Bank of England in 1992, he chose to do so by giving an interview to Kaletsky, who at the time was writing for The Times of London. ² In addition to The Times, Kaletsky has also written for the Financial Times and The Economist, and is as of 2021 a columnist for Reuters, Project Syndicate, and the International Herald Tribune. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, Kaletsky published a book titled Capitalism 4.0 on the ensuing transformation of the world economy. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and a master’s degree in economics from Harvard University. ^{3 4}

Kaletsky has been an opponent of national identity and right-wing populist movements in the United States, Britain, Italy, and other Western nations. ⁵

He also dismissed concerns about the elevated inflation rates in the United States during the first few months of the Biden administration. ^{6 7}

Political and Economic Views

Anatole Kaletsky has been hostile towards political movements based on respect for national identity and describes himself as being among “those of us” who are “still proud to be ‘citizens of the world.’” In a 2018 article for Project Syndicate, a publication which is partially funded by the Open Society Foundations, Kaletsky cited left-progressive sociologist Karl Deutsch, quoting his claim that “a nation is a group of people linked together by a common error about their ancestry.” Kaletsky also claimed that “nationalism will go bankrupt” and that nations with growing right-wing populist movements would “learn the hard way that reality always eventually wins.” ^{8 9}

Kaletsky has been dismissive of concerns about inflation and its effects on nations’ economies. In May 2021, when inflation rates in the United States had risen to their highest level in 13 years, Kaletsky wrote an article for the British financial publication New Model Advisor in which he reiterated his claim from several months prior that “the market anxiety about US inflation is overdone.” ^{10 11} Charles Gave, the co-founder of Kaletsky’s investment research firm Gavekal, disagreed with his assessment. Grave said ­­that emerging economic trends caused by the increasingly close ties between central banks and government treasuries gave him “a feeling of trepidation.” Gave argued that a new “top-down money and credit creation process” could lead to a scenario in which “money becomes spending coupons” that “will never be repaid” and no longer serve as a “store of value.” ¹²

OSF Global Board

Kaletsky sits on the OSF Global Board, the international advisory body that oversees all of the Open Society Foundation’s initiatives and subordinate organizations. Other prominent members of the board include Mark Malloch-Brown, the president of OSF and a member of the British House of Lords; Alexander Soros, the deputy chair of the OSF, George Soros’s son, and founder of the Alexander Soros Foundation; and George Soros himself. ¹³

1. “Anatole Kaletsky.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/global-board/member/anatole-kaletsky
2. Connie Bruck. “The World According to George Soros.” The New Yorker. January 15, 1995. Accessed October 16, 2021.

   https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/01/23/the-world-according-to-soros

3. “Anatole Kaletsky.” Gavekal. Accessed October 16, 2021.

   https://research.gavekal.com/author/anatole-kaletsky

4. “Anatole Kaletsky.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/global-board/member/anatole-kaletsky
5. Anatole Kaletsky. “Nationalism Will Go Bankrupt.” Project Syndicate. June 20, 2018. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nationalism-fails-to-lift-living-standards-by-anatole-kaletsky-2018-06
6. Gwynn Guilford. “U.S. Inflation Is Highest in 13 Years as Prices Surge 5%.” The Wall Street Journal. June 10, 2021. Accessed October 16, 2021.

   https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-inflation-consumer-price-index-may-2021-11623288303

7. Anatole Kaletsky. “Gavekal: Anatole Kaletsky on what happens if inflation fears recede.” New Model Advisor. May 28, 2021. Accessed October 16, 2021.https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/gavekal-anatole-kaletsky-on-what-happens-if-inflation-fears-recede/a1511884
8. Anatole Kaletsky. “Nationalism Will Go Bankrupt.” Project Syndicate. June 20, 2018. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nationalism-fails-to-lift-living-standards-by-anatole-kaletsky-2018-06
9. “What we do.” Project Syndicate. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.project-syndicate.org/about
10. Gwynn Guilford. “U.S. Inflation Is Highest in 13 Years as Prices Surge 5%.” The Wall Street Journal. June 10, 2021. Accessed October 16, 2021.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-inflation-consumer-price-index-may-2021-11623288303

11. Anatole Kaletsky. “Gavekal: Anatole Kaletsky on what happens if inflation fears recede.” New Model Advisor. May 28, 2021. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/gavekal-anatole-kaletsky-on-what-happens-if-inflation-fears-recede/a1511884
12. Charles Gave. “Gavekal: When money becomes spending coupons.” CityWire. June 29, 2021. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://citywireusa.com/professional-buyer/news/gavekal-when-money-becomes-spending-coupons/a1524683
13. “Global Board.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 16, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/global-board