John Peter Hussman (born 15 October 1962), is an American philanthropist, economist, and hedge fund manager.

John Hussman
Born
John Peter Hussman

(1962-10-15) October 15, 1962 (age 61)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNorthwestern University (BSc, MS)
Stanford University (PhD)
Occupations
Prof. International Finance University of Michigan (1992–98)
Known forFounder, Hussman Strategic Advisors
SpouseTheresa "Terri" Hussman[1]
Children4
Websitehttps://www.hussman.com

Early life edit

Hussman holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University, as well as a master's degree in education and social policy and a bachelor's degree in economics from Northwestern University.

Career edit

Academic edit

From 1992 to 1998, he was Professor of Economics and International Finance at the University of Michigan.[citation needed] 

Investing edit

In the mid-1980s, Hussman worked as an options mathematician for Peters & Company at the Chicago Board of Trade, and in 1988 founded his investment company, now known as Hussman Strategic Advisors.[2] After spending much of the early-1990s as a "lonely raging bull",[3] he became increasingly bearish in the late-1990's.[4] He successfully anticipated the collapse of dot-com bubble, as well as the 2008–09 global financial crisis, then reversed his view about valuations after the market collapse in late-2008, declaring “U.S. stocks are now undervalued”.[5]

By September 2010, Hussman managed US$6.7 billion. However, between 2013 and 2017, he became increasingly bearish, asserting that the "quantitative easing" ("QE") and zero interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve had contributed to a “hypervalued market”,[6] Hussman's investment performance suffered as a result, and he was labeled a “permabear”. His performance during this period sharply lagged the S&P 500, in contrast to the years prior to 2013. By late-2017, assets under management had declined to US$1 billion. Hussman has regularly commented on his error during that period,[7] tracing it to his insistence on stress-testing his methods against Depression-era data following the global financial crisis, which led him to emphasize the importance of “overvalued, overbought, overbullish” conditions that had historically been reliable indications of market tops.[8] In late-2017, he gave up, saying "Evidently, once interest rates hit zero, so did the collective IQ of Wall Street".[9]

Hussman is known for a strongly quantitative approach to macro-investing and publishes a regular market comment freely available on his website, that updates his projections of 10-12 year returns for the S&P 500, which remained below 0% from 2015 until early-2020, when the market plunged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] In July 2017, Hussman said that markets were "at the most offensive level of overvaluation in history" — beyond even 1929 and 2000". In June 2018, he projected a market decline in excess of 64% (two-thirds) by the trough of the market cycle.  He reiterated that projection of a two-thirds market loss in November 2020, after a rebound in the S&P 500 back to its pre-pandemic highs.[11]

As he did in 2000, at the peak of the technology bubble [ Hussman Investment Research & Insight, October 3, 2000 ] and in 2007, before the global financial crisis [ Market Internals Go Negative, July 30, 2007 ], Hussman regularly emphasizes that his statements about valuations are not near-term forecasts, and that bubbles can only occur when investors ignore overvaluation for years. In practice, he says, “In addition to valuations, which inform us about long-term returns and full-cycle risks, we consider the uniformity or divergence of market internals, to infer whether investors are inclined toward speculation or toward risk-aversion.” Hussman argues that the worst market losses occur when both are unfavorable, opening a “trap door.”.[12]

Philanthropic edit

In 1998, Hussman left academic economics to increase his focus on philanthropic efforts, using his ongoing investing work to fund charitable projects in autism, global health, education, displaced populations, homelessness, and research focused on the genetics and biology of complex conditions such as autism and multiple sclerosis. He has authored and co-authored numerous research papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] including Molecular Autism,[20] Nature,[21] and Frontiers in Pharmacology.[22]

In 2001, Hussman proposed what is now known as the “excitatory/inhibitory” theory of autism in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Drawing on evidence from genetic, neuroanatomical, and neurobiological research, he proposed: "Although it is possible that the breadth of impairments in autism are caused by multiple defects in relatively independent systems, autism may instead reflect dysfunction in a single factor shared in common by many systems. Specifically, the severe disruptions observed in autism may be linked to suppression of GABAergic inhibition, resulting in excessive stimulation of glutamate-specialized neurons and loss of sensory gating. This view recognizes the possibility of multiple etiologies in autism. That is, there may exist a spectrum of genetic and environmental factors which impair inhibitory tone. Loss of inhibitory control from GABAergic neurons may result in hyperexcitation of vulnerable target neurons. Such a model may provide a reasonable characterization of autism."[23][24][25] Rubenstein and Merzenich later cited Hussman's work in 2003, increasing attention to the hypothesis, and stating it in terms of an increased ratio of excitation to inhibition (E/I).[26] This mechanism has since become a well-established line of research in the autism field.

In 2012, Hussman founded the Hussman Institute for Autism. The Institute's programs focus on advancing translational research on the genetics and neurobiology of autism, and on developing a continuum of resources to provide positive support to individuals with autism, including training materials, model programs, and research-based practices.[27] In 2021, the Institute relocated its research laboratories to Florida, adjacent to the Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the University of Miami.[28]

Hussman has served on non-profit boards of institutions including the University of Miami, the Baudhuin School for Autism at Nova Southeastern University, and the Autism Society of America. Hussman and his wife Terri also serve on the boards of Maryland charities including the Light House Homelessness Prevention Center, and Hospice of the Chesapeake. Hussman was chosen as the 2013 Philanthropist of the Year by the AFP.[29][30]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Hussman, Stinars among those honored for philanthropy". Towson University. 7 November 2013.
  2. ^ "John Hussman PhD".
  3. ^ "Lack of Bulls May Signal That Stocks Are Ready to Soar". Los Angeles Times. 10 July 1992.
  4. ^ "Up & Down Wall Street".
  5. ^ "Why Warren Buffett is Right (and Why Nobody Cares)".
  6. ^ "All this volatility is following one bear's script for a 60% tumble in the stock market".
  7. ^ "Whatever They're Doing, It's Not "Investment"". 30 January 2020.
  8. ^ "The Mutual Fund For This Market Environment". Forbes.
  9. ^ "The Arithmetic of Risk". 2 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Clearing Rallies and Crashes (Buckle Up)". 2 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Pushing Extremes". 16 November 2020.
  12. ^ https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc230724/ Air Pockets, Free Falls, and More Cowbell, July 24, 2023
  13. ^ Hussman, J. P. (2001). "Suppressed GABAergic inhibition as a common factor in suspected etiologies of autism". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 31 (2): 247–248. doi:10.1023/a:1010715619091. PMID 11450824. S2CID 18406937.
  14. ^ Subramanian, K.; Brandenburg, C.; Orsati, F.; Soghomonian, J. J.; Hussman, J. P.; Blatt, G. J. (2017). "Basal ganglia and autism - a translational perspective". Autism Research. 10 (11): 1751–1775. doi:10.1002/aur.1837. PMID 28730641. S2CID 46205484.
  15. ^ "The gap between intention and action: altered connectivity and GABAmediated synchrony in autism" (PDF).
  16. ^ Nestor, Michael W.; Phillips, Andre W.; Artimovich, Elena; Nestor, Jonathan E.; Hussman, John P.; Blatt, Gene J. (2016). "Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cells and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Emerging Technologies". Autism Research. 9 (5): 513–535. doi:10.1002/aur.1570. PMID 26426199. S2CID 205455895.
  17. ^ Griswold, Anthony J.; Dueker, Nicole D.; Van Booven, Derek; Rantus, Joseph A.; Jaworski, James M.; Slifer, Susan H.; Schmidt, Michael A.; Hulme, William; Konidari, Ioanna; Whitehead, Patrice L.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Martin, Eden R.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Gilbert, John R.; Hussman, John P.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A. (2015). "Targeted massively parallel sequencing of autism spectrum disorder-associated genes in a case control cohort reveals rare loss-of-function risk variants". Molecular Autism. 6: 43. doi:10.1186/s13229-015-0034-z. PMC 4504419. PMID 26185613.
  18. ^ Cuccaro, M. L.; Brinkley, J.; Abramson, R. K.; Hall, A.; Wright, H. H.; Hussman, J. P.; Gilbert, J. R.; Pericak-Vance, M. A. (2007). "Autism in African American Families: Clinical‐phenotypic findings†". American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics. 144B (8): 1022–1026. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.30535. PMID 17671983. S2CID 28436030.
  19. ^ Ma, Deqiong; Salyakina, Daria; Jaworski, James M.; Konidari, Ioanna; Whitehead, Patrice L.; Andersen, Ashley N.; Hoffman, Joshua D.; Slifer, Susan H.; Hedges, Dale J.; Cukier, Holly N.; Griswold, Anthony J.; McCauley, Jacob L.; Beecham, Gary W.; Wright, Harry H.; Abramson, Ruth K.; Martin, Eden R.; Hussman, John P.; Gilbert, John R.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A. (2009). "A Genome‐wide Association Study of Autism Reveals a Common Novel Risk Locus at 5p14.1". Annals of Human Genetics. 73 (3): 263–273. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00523.x. PMC 2918410. PMID 19456320.
  20. ^ Hussman, John P.; Chung, Ren-Hua; Griswold, Anthony J.; Jaworski, James M.; Salyakina, Daria; Ma, Deqiong; Konidari, Ioanna; Whitehead, Patrice L.; Vance, Jeffery M.; Martin, Eden R.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Gilbert, John R.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A. (2011). "A noise-reduction GWAS analysis implicates altered regulation of neurite outgrowth and guidance in autism". Molecular Autism. 2 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/2040-2392-2-1. PMC 3035032. PMID 21247446.
  21. ^ Hussman, J. P.; Beecham, A. H.; Schmidt, M.; Martin, E. R.; McCauley, J. L.; Vance, J. M.; Haines, J. L.; Pericak-Vance, M. A. (2016). "GWAS analysis implicates NF-κB-mediated induction of inflammatory T cells in multiple sclerosis". Genes & Immunity. 17 (5): 305–312. doi:10.1038/gene.2016.23. PMC 4956564. PMID 27278126.
  22. ^ Hussman, John P. (2020). "Cellular and Molecular Pathways of COVID-19 and Potential Points of Therapeutic Intervention". Frontiers in Pharmacology. 11: 1169. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01169. PMC 7406916. PMID 32848776.
  23. ^ "Origin of a Theory: Excitatory/inhibitory imbalance in the brain as a factor in autism". 11 February 2016.
  24. ^ Brondino, Natascia; Fusar-Poli, Laura; Panisi, Cristina; Damiani, Stefano; Barale, Francesco; Politi, Pierluigi (2016). "Pharmacological Modulation of GABA Function in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review of Human Studies". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 46 (3): 825–839. doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2619-y. PMID 26443675. S2CID 31751279.
  25. ^ "Suppressed GABAergic inhibition as a common factor in suspected etiologies of autism" (PDF).
  26. ^ Rubenstein, J. L. R.; Merzenich, M. M. (2003). "Model of autism: increased ratio of excitation/inhibition in key neural systems". Genes, Brain and Behavior. 2 (5): 255–267. doi:10.1034/j.1601-183X.2003.00037.x. PMC 6748642. PMID 14606691.
  27. ^ "Hussman Institute for Autism | Ellicott City, MD | Cause IQ".
  28. ^ "Hussman Institute for Autism".
  29. ^ "AFP and Dr. Hussman Philanthropist of the Year". YouTube.
  30. ^ "Hussman, Stinars among those honored for philanthropy". 7 November 2013.

External links edit