About

GEORGE SOROS
Biographical Note, October 2003

George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary on August 12, 1930. He survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and left communist Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics. While a student at LSE, Mr. Soros became familiar with the work of the philosopher Karl Popper, who had a profound influence on his thinking and later on his professional and philanthropic activities.

The financier. In 1956 Mr. Soros moved to the United States, where he began to accumulate a large fortune through an international investment fund he founded and managed. Today he is Chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC.

The philanthropist. Mr. Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend Capetown University in apartheid South Africa. Today he is Chairman of the Open Society Institute and the founder of a network of philanthropic organizations active in more than 50 countries in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States. These foundations are dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions of an open society. In 1992, Mr. Soros founded the Central European University, with its primary campus in Budapest. In 2003 the Soros foundations network spent $474 million to support projects in education, public health, civil society development, and many other areas. Giving for 2004 is expected to remain at a similar level.

The philosopher. Mr. Soros is the author of eight books including the forthcoming The Bubble of America Supremacy (PublicAffairs January 2004). His other books include: George Soros on Globalization, 2002; The Alchemy of Finance, 1987; Opening the Soviet System, 1990; Underwriting Democracy, 1991; Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve, 1995; The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, 1998; and Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism, 2000. His articles and essays on politics, society, and economics regularly appear in major newspapers and magazines around the world.

Publications

2002

"Busted: Why the Markets Can't Fix Themselves," the New Republic, September 2, 2002

"Don't Blame Brazil," the Financial Times, August 13, 2002

"Transparent Corruption: Oil and Natural Resource Companies Should Make Clear How Much Money is Being Taken By Officials," Financial Times, June 2002

George Soros on Globalization,  PublicAffairs, March 2002

2001

"Assembling Afghanistan," Washington Post, December 2001

"The Free Market for Hope," Newsweek, October 2001

"The Future of the Ukraine," Financial Times, March 2001

"My Market Theory? Forget Theories," The Wall Street Journal, 08 January 2001

"When The Internet Boom Went Bust," Syndicated Column, January 2001

2000

"How to Encourage the Balkans," Financial Times, November 2000

Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism, PublicAffairs, October 2000

"Who Lost Russia?" ,New York Review of Books, April 2000

1999

"It Isn't Enough to Shed Communism," Washington Post, November 1999

"Breaking the Cycle of Violence," Financial Times, November 1999

"Balkan Opening ," Washington Post, July 1999

"Breaking Down The Borders," Financial Times, July 1999

"Global Capital Markets: An Exchange," New Republic, April 1999

"To Avert The Next Crisis," Financial Times, January 1999

1998

The Crisis of Global Capitalism, PublicAffairs, 1998

"Towards a Global Open Society," Atlantic Monthly, January 1998

1997

"Avoiding a Breakdown: Asis's Crisis Demands a Rethink of International Regulation," Financial Times, 31 December 1997

"The Drug War Cannot Be Won," Washington Post, op-ed page, 22 August 1997

"Legal Immigrants Deserve a Safety Net," New York Times, op-ed page, 22 August 1997

"The Capitalist Threat," Atlantic Monthly, February 1997 (cover)

"Imagine It Is 2001...," International Herald Tribune, 4 February 1997

1996

"Immigrants Burden," New York Times, 2 October 1996

"Relighting a Lamp Outside America's Darkening Door,"¯Los Angeles Times, op-ed page, 2 October 1996

"Can Europe Work?" ForeignAffairs, September 1996

"Hoodwinked Again in Bosnia," Wall Street Journal, 9 July 1996

"Postpone Bosnian Elections," Wall Street Journal, 29 May 1996

1995

"This Is the Moment of Truth," (op-ed on Bosnia), Washington Post, 16 July 1995

"A Failed Philosopher Tries Again," (a Jan Patocka Memorial Lecture), April 1995

"Soros on Soros: Staying ahead of the Curve," John Wiley & Sons

"I Welcome the Changes Now Underway in the USSR" (pamphlet)

1994

"The Dangers of Post-Communism" (testimony submitted to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, International Organizations, and Human Rights), 2 August 1994

"Some Thoughts on the Future of Our Civilisation" (lecture delivered for ARTICLE 19: The International Centre against Censorship), 10 June 1994

"The Theory of Reflexivity" (Address to MIT Dept. of Economics, World Economy Laboratory Conference), 26 April 1994

"Hedge Funds and Dynamic Hedging" (testimony to U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs), 13 April 1994

"Ein Land Braucht Hilfe," Die Zeit, 18 March 1994

"The Other Balkan Mess," New York Times, 17 March 1994

"Help Macedonia and Pressure Greece if Necessary," International Herald Tribune, March 1994

"No Time for Business as Usual," Annandale (publication of Bard College), February 1994

"Get Serious about Helping Russia Go Straight," International Herald Tribune, 6 January 1994

1993

"Toward a New World Order: The Future of NATO," Soros Foundations, 29 November 1993

"Prospect for European Disintegration" (Aspen Institute, Berlin), 29 September 1993

"Why Appeasement Must Not Have Another Chance," The Times (extracted from Opinions on Channel 4), 2 August 1993

"Pourquoi je ne spicule pas contre le franc," Le Figaro, 26 July 1993

"Reconstruire le SME, Sinon...," Le Figaro, 25 February 1993

"A Social Safety Net for Russia," Washington Post, 4 January 1993

1992

"Nationalist Dictatorships versus Open Society" (lecture to the Harvard Club of New York), 18 November 1992

"A Cold-Cash Winter Proposal for Russia," Wall Street Journal, 11 November 1992

"Termites Are Devouring Hungary," New York Times, 5 October 1992

"Situation in Russia Has Ceased to Concern Russians Only" (trans.), Izvestia, 30 May 1992

1991

"U.S.S.R.: See the Future, Make It Work," Wall Street Journal, 13 September 1991

"The Centre Cannot Hold," The Independent, 15 July 1991

"An EC Gift for the Hungarian Economy," Wall Street Journal-Europe, 4 April 1991

"Underwriting Democracy," The Free Press

1990

"Gorbachev's Reform Plan Is a Bust," New York Times, 19 October 1990

"Opening the Soviet System," Weidenfeld & Nicholson

1989

"Can the Soviet Economy Be Saved? -Not without U.S. Aid," Wall Street Journal, 7 December 1989

"Chores for the West: Invest in a Polish Reform Process," International Herald Tribune, 10 July 1989

"How to Help Poland," Washington Post, 7 July 1989

"Incredible Shrinking Superpowers: Can We (or the Soviets) Tolerate Arms Cuts That Would Erode Our Global Dominance?" Newsday, 2 July 1989

"Dream & Reality," New York Review of Books, 1 June 1989

1988

"Joint Ventures: A Way to Make Perestroika Work," Financial Times, 15 June 1988

"After Black Monday," Foreign Policy (No. 70), Spring 1988

"Brady Commission Should've Stressed Market Stability," Wall Street Journal, 14 January 1988

1987

"Japan's Stock Market: This Time the Turning Point Has Been Reached," Financial Times, 14 October 1987

"A Global New Deal" New York Review of Books, 13 August 1987

"A Plan to Ease Global Stresses," New York Times, 24 April 1987

The Alchemy of Finance, Simon & Schuster (reissued 1994 by John Wiley & Sons)

1983-1984

"March 1984, May 1984: Morgan Stanley The International Debt Problem," July 1983