Ben Hunt
Co-Founder and CIO
Ben Hunt is the creator of Epsilon Theory and inspiration behind Second Foundation Partners, which he co-founded with Rusty Guinn in June 2018.
Epsilon Theory, Second Foundation’s principal publishing brand, is a newsletter and website that examines markets through the lenses of game theory and history. Over 100,000 professional investors and allocators across 180 countries read Epsilon Theory for its fresh perspective and novel insights into market dynamics. As Chief Investment Officer, Ben bears primary responsibility for determining the Company’s investment views and positioning of model portfolios. He is also the primary author of materials distributed through Epsilon Theory.
Ben taught political science for 10 years: at New York University from 1991 until 1997 and (with tenure) at Southern Methodist University from 1997 until 2000. He also wrote two academic books: Getting to War (Univ. of Michigan Press, 1997) and Policy and Party Competition (Routledge, 1992), which he co-authored with Michael Laver. Ben is the founder of two technology companies and the co-founder of SmartEquip, Inc., a software company for the construction equipment industry that provides intelligent schematics and parts diagrams to facilitate e-commerce in spare parts.
He began his investment career in 2003, first in venture capital and subsequently on two long/short equity hedge funds. He worked at Iridian Asset Management from 2006 until 2011 and TIG Advisors from 2012 until 2013. He joined Rusty at Salient in 2013, where he combined his background as a portfolio manager, risk manager, and entrepreneur with academic experience in game theory and econometrics to work with Salient’s own portfolio managers and its financial advisor clients to improve client outcomes.
Ben is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (1986) and earned his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 1991. He lives in the wilds of Redding, CT on Little River Farm, where he personifies the dilettante farmer that has been a stock comedic character since Cicero's day. Luckily his wife, Jennifer, and four daughters, Harper, Hannah, Haven and Halle, are always there to save the day. Ben's hobbies include comic books, Alabama football, beekeeping, and humoring Rusty in trivia "competitions".
Articles by Ben:
We are in the early stages of a bank run on the United States and the US dollar, and everyone on Wall Street is heading for the exits, including domestic investors who will exit not because they want to but because they know the Not-So-Golden Rule.
I think that no matter what happens in the US-China trade war, the professional investment and allocation world no longer trusts the global prime broker functions of the US government.
I know it feels like everyone in our world is talking about capital flight out of the US, and our gut reaction (or at least my gut reaction) is to fade that sort of professional, inside baseball Narrative consensus. But I think that reversion approach is a mistake here. Common Knowledge on the repatriation trade still hasn’t cracked.
Storyboards are an Epsilon Theory exclusive research product where we go beyond sentiment to explore the meaning of the stories being told about markets, events,…
I am desperately opposed to crashing the Pax Americana car, Annie Hall style, because the America First system that this Administration wants as a replacement is not a stable system that is possible as a replacement.
I’ve got some ideas on what a model portfolio looks like to manage both the exit from the old regime and the entrance into the new, and I’d like to talk about that in a webinar for Professional subscribers on Friday, April 11th at 11a EST: What Happens When the United States is Just Another Country?
Every strategic interaction that the United States government participates in, both domestically and internationally, is transforming from a Coordination Game to a Competition Game.
Today’s market breakdown – because that’s what it was, an ugly gross deleveraging breakdown – had little to do with ‘recession fears’, and a LOT to do with a new common knowledge that the United States has embraced mercantilism and raw, naked rent-seeking as its foreign and domestic economic regime.
I’ve rarely seen a more powerful political and market narrative – we’re going to trigger a recession and that’s a good thing! – flowing just beneath the surface of financial news media.
The Road to Serfdom is not an endless road, but its path and duration, what I call the Great Ravine, is not up to us to choose. While we walk this road the only thing we can save is our souls, and we do it with one simple sentence: It was never going to be me.