Gary Stevenson (economist)

Last updated

Gary Stevenson
NationalityBritish
Education Ilford County High School Valentines High School
Alma mater
Years active2008–present
Known forEconomic activism
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2020–present
Subscribers349K [1]
Total views16.4 million [1]
Last updated: 20 August 2024
Website www.wealtheconomics.org

Gary Stevenson (born 1987) is a British economist, former financial trader, and YouTuber known for his economic analysis and activism against economic inequality. [2]

Contents

From a working class background in Ilford, Stevenson won a scholarship to study for a BSc in economics and mathematics at the London School of Economics, before becoming a financial trader at Citibank in 2008 at the age of 21. Stevenson became a millionaire in the wake of the great recession by betting there would be a large increase in economic inequality, and that growing poverty would cause interest rates to stay low. [3] By trading on this prediction, he claims to have become Citibank's most profitable trader globally in 2011. [4] [5] In 2014, Stevenson retired from financial trading to study for an MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford. [6] In 2020, he started the YouTube-channel GarysEconomics, where he campaigns against economic inequality and explains economic concepts to a wider audience. [7]

Stevenson is a contributor to policy debates on inequality in Britain and has contributed to outlets such as The Guardian , BBC, LBC, and Novara Media. In 2024, Stevenson published The Trading Game through Penguin Books, a memoir about his years working in the finance industry. [8] The book rose to the number one spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list and received generally positive reviews. [9] [10] [11]

Early life

Stevenson's father was a post office worker in Ilford, London, United Kingdom. [3] He grew up with a sister, Debris Stevenson, and a brother. [5] As a child, Stevenson worked as a paperboy, and attended Ilford County High School until 2003 where he was expelled at the age of 16 due to a "drug-related transgression". [3] He then completed his A-Levels at Valentines High School where he achieved four As. [12]

In 2005, he enrolled in the London School of Economics and studied maths and economics. [3] He later wrote in his memoir that his university experience led him to conclude that "a lot of rich people expect poor people to be stupid". He worked for DFS, earning £40 a day. [13]

Career

Interest rate trader

Stevenson began his career as an interest rate trader in 2008 at the age of 21, after winning a "card game" based on trading, [5] [14] initially being hired by Citibank as an intern and then as a full employee. [13] He took advantage of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, [3] receiving his first bonus in early 2009 of £13,000, [13] and earned just under £400,000 in his first year, followed by his first million pounds by 2010. [3] He also bet on the Greek government-debt crisis in 2011. [15] By the end of 2011, Stevenson claims he had become "Citibank's most profitable trader" by trading based on the prediction that interest rates would not rise due to the impact of wealth inequality upon demand, [3] [5] as he believed the wealthy tended to save their money rather than spend it, instead investing it in property. [16] This claim has been disputed by many former Citibank colleagues. [17]

Campaigning

Stevenson retired from trading in 2014 when he was 27 and enrolled at Keble College, Oxford to study for a master's in economics, writing a thesis titled "The Impact of Inequality on Asset Prices When Households Care About Wealth". [3] [14] He published "Depressed and disillusioned" with the education he was receiving, [3] and annoyed that "change isn't going to come from there," [15] he involved himself in the work of Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, and Ludwig Straub. [3]

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, he predicted a rise in house prices and in the cost of shopping, [3] and that inequality would increase. [5] He joined the Patriotic Millionaires and Millionaires for Humanity to campaign for wealth tax, and set up the YouTube channel GarysEconomics with the mission of explaining economics to the wider public. [3] [18] [19] In 2021, he signed an open letter to Rishi Sunak alongside 29 other UK millionaires, calling on the then chancellor to introduce a wealth tax and stating that "instead of raising national insurance and taking £1,000 a year away from families on universal credit, the chancellor, who is a multimillionaire, should be taxing himself and people like me – people with wealth." [20] He has also proposed limiting the length of time for which people can keep their wealth. [2]

In 2022, Stevenson appeared in the Channel 4 documentary Cryptocurrency: Has the Bubble Burst? [21] In 2023, Stevenson featured in Steffan Roe Griffiths' short film, Gary Stevenson - Life Out of Balance, [22] and appeared on BBC Politics Live. [18] He wrote a memoir, The Trading Game, [19] named after the event held by Citibank which allowed him to obtain an internship there. [23] It was acquired by Penguin Books in a six-figure deal, [19] and released in March 2024. [13] Joris Luyendijk of The Guardian wrote that it was "a well written and often darkly funny book that makes a convincing case that high finance is as toxic, reckless and deeply cynical as ever." [13]

Scepticism

Stevenson claims to have been "Citibank’s most profitable trader, in the whole world", but a report by the Financial Times has put that into question. Stevenson reported that he netted a $35mn profit for Citibank in 2011. Notably, it was only two years after Citi paid Andy Hall — the legendary oil trader nicknamed “God” — an eye-watering $100mn bonus (and note that was Hall’s personal share of a much higher profit generated for the bank). FTAV has spoken to eight former employees of Citi who worked with Stevenson at various points in his career, including some of the most senior managers in the bank’s FX business. All of them disputed his claim to have been the bank’s most profitable trader. More than one of his former colleagues on the trading desk alleged that Stevenson had “delusions of grandeur”, while several said they doubted his record would have put him in the top 10 in Citi’s FX division at any point. “He did OK, but wasn’t exceptional, and over his career as a trader he wasn’t even close to being one of the stars”.

On Stevenson’s assertion that he was once the best of the best, Feig was damning: “His claim about being the most profitable trader at Citi in any one year is laughable and clearly just an outlandish fib.” However, “The story about The Trading Game is 100 per cent true,” said Feig, who added that Stevenson is an “exceptionally smart guy”. [24]

Books

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References

  1. 1 2 "About Garys Economics". YouTube.
  2. 1 2 Neate, Rupert; @RupertNeate (2 July 2022). "Gary Stevenson, City trader turned campaigner: 'I made money betting on a disaster'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Chakelian, Anoosh (17 November 2021). ""Capitalism's over": The man who made millions by betting the economy would never recover". New Statesman. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "He made millions betting against economic recovery. Now he wants to fix things". www.ft.com. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Stevenson, Gary (7 May 2020). "I made millions out of the last debt crisis. Now the wealthy stand to win again". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Neate, Rupert; @RupertNeate (2 July 2022). "Gary Stevenson, City trader turned campaigner: 'I made money betting on a disaster'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "Garys Economics - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Stevenson, Gary (5 March 2024). The Trading Game.
  9. ↑ Gimein, Mark (10 March 2024). "A Coming-of-Age Tale From the World of London High Finance". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  10. ↑ Dunn, Will (14 June 2024). "The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson review — confessions of a Citibank boy". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  11. ↑ "High finance, low spirits — insider tales from Wall Street and the City". www.ft.com. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Paul Clarke (17 December 2021). "Meet the junior trader turned economist who's convinced a recession is coming". eFinancialCareers. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Luyendijk, Joris (22 February 2024). "The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson review – cashing out". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  14. 1 2 "Commentary: I got rich by betting that inequality would destroy the U.S. and U.K. I'm sorry". Fortune. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  15. 1 2 Neate, Rupert (3 April 2021). "'Raise my taxes – now!': the millionaires who want to give it all away". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  16. ↑ Jones, Owen (13 January 2022). "As things fall apart, the super-rich spend $2m on whisky. We need a wealth tax". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. ↑ Smith, Robert (12 September 2024). "Gary Stevenson claims to have been the best trader in the world. His old colleagues disagree". Financial Times.
  18. 1 2 Ellingham, Miles (1 March 2024). "He made millions betting against economic recovery. Now he wants to fix things". Financial Times . Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 "Allen Lane lands 'gripping' memoir by ex-trader Stevenson in 12-way auction for six figures". The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  20. ↑ Neate, Rupert (24 October 2021). "Millionaires petition Rishi Sunak to introduce wealth tax". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  21. ↑ Hogan, Michael (9 August 2022). "Cryptocurrency: Has the Bubble Burst? review: a disappointing and dumbed-down crash course". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  22. ↑ Roe Griffiths, Steffan (24 May 2023). Gary Stevenson - Life Out of Balance, A Cinematic Documentary. MNA Film. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  23. ↑ Stevenson, Gary (2 February 2024). "I was the City's youngest and highest earning trader – but it nearly killed me". The Daily Telegraph . ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  24. ↑ Smith, Robert (12 September 2024). "Gary Stevenson claims to have been the best trader in the world. His old colleagues disagree". Financial times. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
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