SOPHISTICATED FINANCE

Government in Crisis?

Interesting quotations from Cafe Hayek today:

"All government policies adopted to meet a crisis presume that the government knows how to effect the rescue it seeks. If the crisis arises from an attack by foreigners, the government purports to know how to mount military countermeasures that will defeat or disable the enemy. If the crisis consists of economic malfunctions, the government purports to know how to alter its spending, taxing, or regulation so that the economy will be restored to sound operation. These presumptions are in general counterfactual." Delusions of Power by Robert Higgs

"Public policies are determined and laws are made by small minorities playing upon the fears and imbecilities of the mob – sometimes minorities of intelligent and honest men, but usually minorities of rogues." H.L.Mencken

Education and Social Inclusion

The quote below by Richard Wolin in the May 21, 2012 issue of The Nation explains the relationship between education and social inclusion.

"For the first time, men and women of diverse social backgrounds were afforded the opportunity to cultivate the knowledge and self-understanding necessary to surmount the oppressive constraints of class, race and gender."

The reference is to the GI Bill that paid for WWII veterans to attend college in the U.S.

Related articles

• Social inclusion is vital to a well-functioning society (nemoo.wordpress.com)
• Theories and Economic Development (sophisticatedfinance.typepad.com)

The Digital Age is Not a Solution

I have written frequently about the changing role of the individual in the Digital Age (here and here to cite two posts). In Einstein's Ideas and Opinions he describes how the Renaissance was a period where individuals made the significant contributions. As population became more dense, the need arose for organizations, as the means to address society's problems. These organizations developed the technology to make themselves more effective and efficient. In summary, as population density changes humans reorganize to address the new problems and develop supporting technology.

Basically, I think we are at another one of those inflection points based on population density. My reasoning is as follows:

• The population will increase by approximately 50% by 2100 to 10 billion
• Over 50% of the population now live in cities and the rate is increasing
• Wide spread discussion of public private partnerships to address social problems indicates a need for a new form of organization
• The easy gains in productivity improvement from computer technology are over because computing technology is now fully developed. (See article here.)

If the choices to address the population density problem are two-- individuals or organizations-- and organizations have reached their point of maximum efficiency and effectiveness with current technology: then we have three choices:

1. Find new technology that addresses the need for greater effectiveness and efficiency in the current forms of organization. Perhaps the use of outer space is the answer (Go Get an Asteroid Academic VC). Some experts say that we have waited too long and no technology can save us from population growth.
2. Redefine the individual through technology. Some might argue that crowd sourcing and (social) networking are proof that the role of the individual is again changing, but neither of these examples produce any meaningful gains in productivity or efficiency. To improve the effectiveness of the individual we have to harness a greater percentage of their intelligence or their physical productivity. Perhaps embedding computing devices inside the person is the answer. 
3. Redefine government, as a significant form of organization, perhaps returning to minimal government. Government originally emerged as a means to prevent unfair interference to people and markets. Over time that role expanded and government became  a substitute in many ways for individual empowerment. Perhaps we need to return to an environment where the individual is more responsible and the government is a referee and not a player.

In conclusion, this is not a post about the dangers of population growth. Human beings re-organize when population density changes (Einstein). I think we have exhausted the benefits from the current forms of organization. We have maxed out the benefits of current computing technology. My guess is we need to re-design the effectiveness of the individual or mankind will fail to address a new era of population density. While the Digital Age is getting all the press, I now think that it is not the technology to address a new era but rather the dramatic end to the last era. Opportunities still exist to better use computer technology, e.g. education, but the bigger opportunities may be in recognizing a new era in the history of mankind. Whether existing governments with their bureaucracies focused on the status quo will permit the necessary changes may be the biggest challenge.

Image credit: bangladesh.um.dk

Related articles

• The World's Population Density, Visualized [Visualizations] (gizmodo.com)

Thoughts from a Day at MIT

Schopenhauer, not Christensen from Wikipedia

Clayton Christensen, the well known HBS professor, once said that MIT has the highest density of creativity on the planet. Every time I spend a day at MIT I come to the same conclusion. Two observations inspired by things at MIT last week:

1. In the early days of artificial intelligence (AI) the focus was on the algorithms as the means to make AI productive. This approach proved only marginally effective and AI adoption grew slowly. Recently with the improvement in large database infrastructure and the exponential growth in digital data, researchers have realized that it was the lack of data rather than immature algorithms that was holding back the growth in AI. There are many implications to the accelerating use of AI. One that intrigues me is that computers will increasingly identify the "value" in the data and that this value will be commercialized and subsequently marginalized much faster. Therefore, the opportunity to create large value will increasingly come from outside the bounds of current knowledge, outside the data set. While this has always been true, the easier opportunities in the existing data may quickly be disappearing.
2. Arthur Schopenhauer, the well known 19th century German philosopher, said that music and art make physical the emotions. In most real time digital media one of the challenges is interpreting the emotions and changes in emotional state of the other party. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are developing sensors to capture and communicate changes in emotion from all parts of the body. Their most well known demonstration is their opera, "Death and the Powers". A possible commercialization of the technology would be for Skype participants to wear sensors during a call. 

Wonder if Schopenhauer would have received a Ph.D from MIT?

 

Why We Should All Appreciate Women...More

 "Considering that women birthed every prophet from Moses to Buddha to Krishna to Jesus to Mohammed -- suckled them, nursed them when they were sick, believed in them when everyone else said they were nuts, you'd think we'd get a little more respect."

Kavita Ramdas quoted in Big Think

Slowdown

Tony Schwartz had a good post on HBR Blog Network, "Slow Down, You Move Too Fast". Two excerpts are worth noting:

"Speed is the enemy of depth, nuance, subtlety, attention to detail, reflection, learning, and rich relationships — the enemy of much, in short, that makes life worth living. "

"Speed is a source of stimulation and fleeting pleasure. Slowing down is a route to depth, more enduring satisfaction, and to excellence."

The complete article is here.

Creativity and Failure

Marvin Minsky at the KI 2006 artificial intelligence conference in Bremen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have never thought of myself as creative. I am not a designer or developer, whether it be software, music, poetry or new devices. However, I am a student of the creative process and a big believer that techniques, such as heuristics, can be used to help creativity. Relax the Assumption is such a technique.

I have also found that many great thinkers were students of creativity, such as these comments from Marvin Minsky, a legendary MIT professor. Thoughts on the creative process from three other notable thinkers, Hamming, Austin and Munger, are here, here and here.

To substitute for creativity, I use an iterative process. In other words, I keep trying solutions until I find a satisfactory solution. The use of heuristics and other techniques makes the iterative process more efficient. The iterative process requires doggedness, a willingness to not give up, and it works for me most of the time. What I have learned over time is that when I cannot find a solution to a problem I usually have the problem framed incorrectly. Re-thinking the problem, rather than continuing to look for a solution, usually does the trick. 

So rather than trying to be "creative", find your own process for how to solve problems and believe in the process so you have the determination to see it through to the end.

Just saw this quote from Jonah Lerner on Mashable.com from a very good article on creativity:

"Because innovation is hard. If it were easy to invent an idea, that idea would already exist. Creative success is not about the avoidance of failure. It’s about failing as fast as possible, going through endless iterations until the idea is perfect."

Access to Ideas

It is well documented that new information is being created at the fastest pace in history. For much of history new information was developed at a pace where it was comparatively easy to disseminate the new ideas to students.

Today curating information is a challenge for which there are yet no really effective tools. Curators, such as text book writers, have a much greater challenge and responsibility. Abusing this responsibility has always been a problem (e.g. Japanese textbooks on WWII). As information proliferates the tendency toward abuse probably increases either purposefully or by accident. Given the power of lobbyists in Washington and at the state level, particularly in education matters, one becomes even more concerned about selective presentation of information.

The solution may be to give the students more autonomy in shaping their reading and experiences. Tools for students such as computers and Internet connectivity provide the access in real time to information. Learning to tell "truth from fiction" and critical thinking are important life skills and probably increasingly important in this age of Twitter, Google search and open access to government information. Teachers would become the guides to this student process of discovery.

This post was inspired by a quote from Seymour Papert in the Daily Papert:

“I do not suppose that all children were ever given full access to the ideas of any society. But at least in times of slower change, an equilibrium could be maintained between what society needed its members to know and the learning opportunities it offered (deliberately or mostly not) to its children. Since there is no reason to suppose that this is true today, and since, in any case, it is no longer acceptable that blind social forces be allowed to assign stations in life through differences in access to learning, deliberate effort is needed to bring to children knowledge that was not intended for them. School, even at its best, is too sluggish and timid to do this.”

Papert, S. (1993) The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer. NY: Basic Books. Page 180.

This quote from Friedrich Hayek's the Fatal Conceit appears to support the same point:

"Life exists only so long as it provides for its own continuance.  Whatever men live for, today most live only because of the market order.  We have become civilized by the increase of our numbers just as civilization made that increase possible: we can be few and savage, or many and civilized.  If reduced to its population of ten thousand years ago, mankind could not preserve civilization.  Indeed, even if knowledge already gained were preserved in libraries, men could make little use of it without numbers sufficient to fill the jobs demanded for extensive specialization and division of labour." Source: cafehayek.com

Yet another thought on the same theme comes from Harvard Business Review in the article "Are You Learning as Fast as the World is Changing?".

Further Thoughts on Shared Value

Last week I spoke on a panel on shared value at HBS. I described Michael Porter's shared value in a previous post, "Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Shared Value":

"Corporate strategies must be adapted to service social needs. By combining the creation of economic value and serving social needs "shared value" is created. "For profit" companies are well suited to solve social problems while at the same time serving their shareholder's interest to maximize investor returns."

I now believe that shared value is basically a trivial idea. To forego social responsibility in favor of maximizing shareholder return is really just an excuse to be socially insensitive. Maximizing shareholder return is not some sort of mathematical certainty but rather the more practical but vague notion that company earnings have to match stock analyst earnings estimates (as a surrogate for shareholder "expectations"). Spending could support social objectives or income generating activities as long as the shareholder expectations are met. For example, no one criticizes Wal-Mart for annual charitable contributions in excess of $600 million.

This post was inspired by this story on opensource.com, "Reimagining capitalism—as principled, patient, and truly social". I do not agree that "capitalism degenerates into narrow self-interest without a strong ethical foundation". Companies make many social contributions such as job creation and tax payments regardless of ethical foundations. The more constructive objective would be to make businesses more aware of the good "business" opportunities that exist in solving social problems or serving the underserved.

Chomsky on Creativity and Innovation

Noam Chomsky is one of the legendary thinkers of the 20th century. Now an emeritus professor at MIT, he established his reputation in the fields of linguistics and philosophy. He is also well known as an activist for social causes.

A recent speech (with video) on the "Purpose of Education" is in this article from Fast Company. What caught my attention was this quote on creativity and innovation:

"It’s the way cultural progress takes place generally. Classical artists, for example, came out of a tradition of craftsmanship that was developed over long periods, with master artisans and others, and sometimes, you can rise on their shoulders and create new marvelous things. But it doesn’t come from nowhere. If there isn’t a lively cultural and educational system, which is geared towards encouraging creative exploration, independence of thought, willingness to cross frontiers, to challenge accepted beliefs… if you don’t have that, you’re not going to get the technology that could lead to economic gains.”

Great thinkers always explain complex ideas simply. Culture and education foster creativity and innovation.

 

Functional Fixedness and Problem Solving

I have written about a technique called "relax the assumption" here and here. Several people find this technique a powerful model to solve problems and innovate. When I do workshops on this technique, I always start by asking the question "why can't we timeshare dogs?" This question makes clear that you only relax the assumption about ownership and we have dog timeshares. 

In a typical workshop I then ask how many new businesses can you create by relaxing one assumption about the original Model T Ford. Everybody thinks of customizing the car color and rental cars. I end the examples by pointing out that fast food restaurants is another example. Do not change just assumptions about the car but rather about people's lifestyles.

I have always considered "relax the assumption" to be a technique that I developed. This article from Big Think shows that my technique addresses what psychologists call "functional fixedness" or ingrained limitations in your thought about the function of something, such as a Model T. Now I have a scientific basis for my technique. 

More Friedrich Hayek

I have been invited to give a lecture on the Austrian school of economics, public good and social justice. I have been thinking about public good and social justice for the last two years as I struggle with the issue of whether social entrepreneurship can scale. Much of the challenge comes from reconciling the role of the individual, government and free markets or capitalism. 

Fortunately, I have gained much insight from the writings of Friedrich Hayek, the Nobel laureate economist and political philosopher. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises are the two intellectual giants of the Austrian school of economics. Their thoughts on the individual, government and free markets are very well explained in this article by Professor Linda C. Raeder, "The Liberalism/Conservatism Of Edmund Burke and F. A. Hayek: A Critical Comparison". Burke is an 18th century philosopher and political theorist.

If you are interested to better understand the philosophy of Joseph Schumpeter and Milton Friedman, the article will be very helpful. If you are looking for a way to understand "social" ventures in a way that is less normative or moral and more economics the article provides some insights. 

A previous post on Hayek is here.

I will announce the date and place of the lecture as soon as they are fixed.

Why Western Civilization Succeeded: Lessons for U.S. Politicians

The Washington Post has a review of the new book by Niall Ferguson, "Civilization: The West and the Rest". Ferguson is a noted historian and professor at Harvard. In explaining the success of England and most of Europe post 1500, the reviewer cites Fergueson's six "institutional arrangements":

1. "Competition, meaning a decentralization of power among nations and within them, necessary to create the right environment for capitalism
2. Science, whose discoveries laid the basis not only for the Industrial Revolution but also for overwhelming military advantage
3. Property rights, which provided a framework for the rule of law and laid the foundation for shared political and economic power
4. Medicine, which led to a dramatic rise in life expectancy
5. A consumer focus to economic life that fueled demand for modern industrial products
6. A work ethic that provided a moral framework for savings, investment and hard toil"

These six themes also explain the success of the U.S.

It would be nice if U.S. politicians from both parties addressed these issues in the upcoming elections. Then the discussion would be on the role of states rights (1), smaller government (1) the environment (2), how to share economic and political power (3), the future of medicine (4) and individual responsibility (5,6). For example, "how to share economic and political power" might be a better discussion than budget deficits, wealth inequality and superpacs.  "The future of medicine" might lead to a better discussion of healthcare. A discussion of states rights might allow us to address certain issues at the local level where consensus might more easily be found, such as abortion, same sex marriage and education .

I found the book review on Arts & Letters Daily.

 

 

 

How to Survive the End of the Industrial Age

Many have recently written on the end of the industrial age of mass production and the new economy that is emerging. Seth Godin's article is particularly good and another post from Business Insider is equally thoughtful. My first post on the subject, "A Future of Individuals", is here.

Most commentators agree that jobs in big business (and perhaps government) will be greatly reduced and that individuals will need to manage their economic survival much more aggressively. Few have offered plans for how to do this, so I share a few thoughts:

• Ideas will be the product of the 21st century. Executable ideas will be the most valuable because they produce economic and social benefits. Pure theory in general will be less valuable because there is so much data and information available to quickly test theories.
• Successful people will demonstrate great skill in using digital media to disseminate there ideas, whether it be e-books, blogs, webinars or old fashion conferences. Success may be more dependent on digital media skills than on the quality of ideas. Remember several people typically have a new idea at the same time. As the world becomes more connected greater access to information will spawn more ideas....and more entrepreneurship.
• Qualifications will no longer be the exclusive domain of universities. The various approaches of online learning and app stores will create a much more "informal" system of recognition and certification that may become the norm. The lower cost of these offerings may accelerate the trend.
• Entrepreneurship and self-employment are the strategies most likely to succeed if you are not inclined to do manual labor (which will always be required). Such approaches put the responsibility for your economic and social well being squarely in your own hands. Israel Kirzner explained entrepreneurship as "the asymetry of information" or in the vernacular as "a unique insight". As information proliferates and is more widely available the opportunities for an "asymetry" should increase greatly. This is perhaps the good news, but remember there will be a lot more people looking for these asymetries.
• Solutions to social problems will increasingly be the "big market opportunity". The social problems are scaling much faster than the resources governments can bring to bear. While "do good" is popular today, in the future the slogan may be "it's a market, not a mission". C.K. Prahalad introduced this idea perhaps as early as 2002 in his book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". Prahalad argued that market driven solutions could alleviate poverty and its related problems.
• Capital organization has traditionally been viewed as silos: government, non-profits, Wall Street type capital markets. For many of the opportunities of the 21st century, I think this silo system will breakdown and different sources of capital will come together. Social entrepreneurship and certain investment theses at Deutsche Bank may be examples of this trend. Organizing capital in this multi-dimensional environment is a new and valuable skill which should spawn a new branch of the finacial industry. Doing this capital organizing at different requirement levels will generate a lot of new jobs in much the same way that investment banks of all sizes have proliferated in the last ten years.

 "However, what has vexed Mr. Obama as well as economists and policy makers is that Apple — and many of its high-technology peers — are not nearly as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in their heydays." New York Times Not just the manufacturing jobs but all the design, engineering and logistics jobs.

"In any democratic nation with the freedom of speech, information can never be as strongly regulated by the public as our food, water, and air. Yet information is just as vital to our survival as the other three things we consume. That’s why personal responsibility in an age of mostly free information is vital to individual and social health." Clay Johnson The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption from Brain Pickings

“One of my central mathetic tenets is that the construction that takes place “in the head” often happens especially felicitously when it is supported by construction of a more public son “in the world” – a sand castle or a cake, a LEGO house or a corporation, a computer program, a poem, or a theory of the universe. Part of what I mean by “in the world” is that the product can be shown, discussed, examined, probed, and admired. It is out there.” Seymour Papert The Daily Papert

 

Related articles

• If You're an Average Worker You're Going Straight to the Bottom (businessinsider.com)
• A Future of Individuals (sophisticatedfinance.typepad.com)

Remembering Martin Luther King

Image via Wikipedia

Concurring Opinions is a blog that focuses on legal issues. Everyone who believes in democracy and wants to understand the intellectual underpinnings should read the blog. Today's CO post commemorates Martin Luther King with a quote from a speech by John Bingham. Amongst his many accomplishments, Bingham was the principal drafter of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment recognized blacks as citizens and gave them equal rights under law.

The quote from Bingham speaking to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia:

"We are deliberating here today upon a bill which illustrates the great principle that this day shakes the throne of every despot upon the globe, and that is, whether man was made for government or government made for man. Those who oppose this bill, whether they intend it or not, by recording their votes against this enactment, reiterate the old dogma of tyrants, that the people are made to be governed and not to govern. I deny that proposition. I deny it because all my convictions are opposed to it. I deny it because I am sure that the Constitution of my country is against it."

For individual empowerment to freely operate, men must govern and not be governed.

Keynes' Insights into Capitalism

Image via Wikipedia

Very interesting article on John Maynard Keynes in the Guardian. Keynes was one of the preeminent thinkers on economics in the 20th century and credited with the idea that government spending can manage business cycles and economic development.

Keynes views on capitalism as summarized by the Guardian are:

"He believed that capitalism was essential both to create high standards of living and to guarantee personal liberty. In effect he sought a capitalist revolution"

"The sustainability of capitalism was not only a technical question but a moral question – because if capitalism is to survive, people have to believe it is a system worth supporting"

I prefer the economic theories of the Austrian School, contemporaries of Keynes, and Milton Friedman. However, I think that Keynes is correct in pointing out the relationship between capitalism and democracy. Perhaps the U.S. government should promote economic development (as a path to democracy) rather than democracy. I also think that the recent economic crisis has fostered continued discussion on the necessity of morality in capitalism. Previous thoughts on this subject are here. 

Related articles

• Keynes, the Future and Present Austerity (thinkmarkets.wordpress.com)
• Keynes vs Hayek; Keynes wins on points. (politics.ie)

The Best Idea to Guide You in 2012

The blog Curiosity Counts had this interesting quote from Marshall McLuhan:

"When any new form comes into the foreground of things, we naturally look at it through the old stereos."

Trying to understand McLuhan's idea better I clicked through to this post on Brain Pickings, where I found this quote by Evgeny Morozov:

"Our Internet intellectuals lack the intellectual ambition, and the basic erudition, to connect their thinking with earlier traditions of social and technological criticism. They desperately need to believe that their every thought is unprecedented. Sometimes it seems as if intellectual life doesn’t really thrill them at all. They never stoop to the lowly task of producing expansive and expository essays, where they could develop their ideas at length, by means of argument and learning, and fully engage with their critics. Instead they blog, and tweet, and consult, and give conference talks—modes of discourse that are mostly impervious to serious critique.”

I have been advocating for greater public intellectualism since I started this blog. This post from January 2008 is the first on the subject and captures many of the same ideas as Morozov. 

In 2012 perhaps we should resist a bit the tendency for short superfluos publishing made possible by FB, Twitter and other digital technology. Perhaps we should rather develop more in-depth thoughtful written pieces or put the energy into book writing. That's the idea to guide you in 2012.

The Best Books I Read in 2011

I am not inspired this year to do a post on the future. So I have opted to do some 2011 compilations instead. The first one is here.

These are some of the best books I read this year and recommend. They are not all recently published, but all are thought provoking examinations of interesting issues.

1. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard W. Hamming. Hamming was a world famous mathematician who also studied where great ideas come from.
2. Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen. Christensen applies his disruptive innovation methodology to the U.S. education system and concludes that something like OLPC is the solution to the current problems.
3. Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham. Almost included this book as required reading in my entrepreneurship classes.
4. In the Plex by Steven Levy. An excellent history of the early days at Google.
5. Monsoon by Robert D. Kaplan. Excellent examination of the historical and current issues surrounding the geo-political significance of the Indian Ocean in the next 50 years. Favorite book of 2011.
6. The Next Convergence by Michael Spence. One should read a book by a Nobel Prize winner every year. Book discusses the effects of the digital world on future economic growth.
7. The Misbehavior of Markets by Bernard Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot researched in fractal geometry, which lead to chaos theory. The world of finance has not been the same ever since. Required reading for any serious student of finance.

And yes I did read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Good book but I think you need years of experience in entrepreneurship and/or business to fully appreciate the lessons from Job's. This post on Steve Job's best quote may actually explain my rather eclectic reading list.

I find it tough to find good book recommendations. My best source is Hacker News. Arts & Letters Daily is another good source.

All of these books are available on Amazon as e-books.

 

A Future of Individuals

One of the most valuable things I learned in business school (over 30 years ago) was the "Smart Man" theory. The theory says that when you cannot figure out something, assume the other person is very smart. An application of the theory follows.

There are two trends that are increasingly shaping the future:

1. Non-government agencies are increasingly addressing the major social problems; NGOs, non-profits and social entrepreneurship ventures are all examples
2. Entrepreneurship and its little brother self-employment are increasingly being used as the means to develop and manage economic well being; entrepreneurship is now being taught in high schools and is one of the most popular subjects at many universities

What do these two trends have in common? Smart Man Answer: In each case the traditional role of the government is being supplanted by a more viable alternative.

In the case of social problems, private capital is being mobilized to address issues that can no longer be ignored. Porter's "shared value" is one example of this thinking. Another example is a foundation in Nicaragua that has undertaken the role of modernizing primary school education.

In the case of the popularity of entrepreneurship, what is recognized at the most fundamental level is that entrepreneurship allows one to control their life to the maximum allowed. One is no longer dependent on a government (or corporations) for their well being.

What do these thoughts suggest about the future? The role of government can be reduced because the people have recognized and started organizing for a world in which big governments do not solve every problem. On an international level this idea would suggest, as some have said, that cities will replace federal governments as the major political and social force. Every trip overseas, I see state and city governments taking on the role historically filled by a federal government.

The irony is that such a world closely approximates a Jeffersonian democracy of limited government. We are going back to an idea that was crafted and communicated over 200 years ago. Why do I insert the idea of democracy? Mobilizing private capital for social issues and entrepreneurship both rely on individual empowerment and the unencumbered freedom to act, which eventually will produce a democracy. 

Latin American Business and Finance Conference--Miami

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November 4th I will be moderating a panel on corporate social responsibility in Latin America at a new conference in Miami. Sponsored by the Colombia University Business School (my alma mater) alumni in South Florida, the Latin American Business and Finance Conference brings together thought leaders from across North and South America to discuss a wide range of themes in business, finance and economic development. Conference details are here. 

Miami should expand its role in the thought leadership of LATAM. UM and FIU have several organizations that contribute to a better understanding of a wide range of topics in LATAM (but more conferences raise the profile of Miami even further). Two organizations that are particularly noteworthy are the  Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami, which hosts high quality monthly events, and the Institute for Public Management & Community Service at FIU which focuses on the issues of the cities and states in LATAM and also hosts a great annual conference now in its 12th year.

Another upcoming conference is the 2011 Americas Venture Capital Conference, November 16-17, sponsored by FIU and the Pino Center for Entrepreneurship (where I am on the Board). This conference focuses on bringing together LATAM entrepreneurs and funding sources. Now in its second year, details for this premier event are here.

Take advantage of these events to expand your knowledge of Latin America. Please share this post on FB, Twitter, etc. so that more people realize that a great deal of though leadership on LATAM comes from right here in Miami.