Adam Torres and William Lee, Phd discuss the Milken 2023 Conference.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify / Stitcher / RSS
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
The Milken Institute Global Conference 2023 was attended by leaders from around the world. In this episode, Adam Torres interviewed William Lee, PhD, Chief Economist for the Milken Institute. Explore the Institute’s effort to develop collaborative policies to improve access to and the functioning of capital markets, strengthen financial stability and the soundness of financial institutions.
Watch Full Interview:
About William Lee, PhD
Extensive (20+ years) experience analyzing US and global macroeconomic developments, assessing international financial risks and vulnerabilities, and recommending strategies to manage the impact of economic and financial shocks.
Held senior staff positions at Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, and within the Federal Reserve System (Board of Governors and New York Fed). Expertise in identifying strategic global business and investment opportunities.
William’s work enables Milken sponsors and clients to leverage growth opportunities, and manage structural market and institutional risks and vulnerabilities. Many proposals he contributed to formulating while at the IMF changed the credit rating agency approach toward rating structured financial products. His analytic work on illiquid OTC derivative markets and risk transfer continue to influence financial reform discussions globally.
About Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. With a focus on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, we bring together the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues through the lens of what’s pressing now and what’s coming next
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres and I’m excited and thrilled to announce that I’m at the Milkin Institute for the 2023 Global Conference. And today my guest is William Lee, who is the Chief Economist for the Milkin Institute. Hey, just wanna start off by saying, bill, welcome to the show.
Hey, Adam. It’s great pleasure to be here. So Bill, uh, excited to get into today’s topic. So I want to know about this milk and magic I’m hearing about. I wanna hear about, you know, how you got involved with milk and of course, and some of the content that you’re seeing today. And one of my goals is to introduce the Milk and Conference, the Milkin Institute to our audience, because I want more people to get involved.
But just to start this episode off Bill, we’ll start this off with what we call our Mission matters minute. Mm-hmm. So, bill, we at Mission Matters. We amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That’s our mission. Bill, what mission matters to you? You know, when I first got to Milkin Institute, quite frankly, I never heard of it.
Mike Milkin, of course I knew about because he was a personal hero of mine. Mike has been a genius who discovered a way of allowing SM companies around the world to fine financing to. Create great stuff. Mm-hmm. Cnn, uh, in the old days was just some idea that said, you know, I think an all news channel might really make it, and no one would give him financing.
And Mike came along and said, I got a way to do this for you. And he did that for so many companies. So, so the fact that he is the man who created a whole new way of finance is the guy who makes him the hero of every. Person who’s been in economics or finance or business school. So, so that was the Mike Milken that I knew about.
Mm-hmm. When I came here five years ago, I was chief US Economist at Citi. Uh, most of my life I’ve been in the I M F, uh, international Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve, and, and essentially, you know, relatively state institutions, right? Yeah. And they said, you know, the Milking Institute is more than just Mike.
I said, what do you mean more than just Mike? It’s Mike. Yeah. And, and they said, Where’re about healthcare. We’re about philanthropy. We’re about having fun and having this mission of ours is to let people have access to funding. Mike’s first accomplishment was, Faster cures, uh, a portion of the Milton Institute that accelerates the approval of drugs.
It was taking forever to get drugs approved, and Mike just stepped in there and figured out ways of getting things done. Philanthropy, people like to give away money when they’re rich and they feel like, you know, I’ve made a lot of money. I should pay back to society, but how the hell do I do this? Yeah.
And Mike came along with a structured way to say, here’s how you can give money to causes and see its impact and see its impact to have absolutely accountability for every one of your hard earned dollars where it goes. And that third pillar is still one where as when Mike interviewed me, he said, bill, I know.
You know me from finance, but I care a lot about healthcare. I care a lot about philanthropy. I spend most of my time there. I’m also in education, but you know, I, my first heart of heart loves is still finance. Mm-hmm. You can go out, you don’t have a compliance officer to worry about. You can go out and talk about whatever you want.
Don’t embarrass me. And that’s the only mandate I got from Mike. Don’t embarrass me, so make sure you don’t embarrass. Don’t embarrass Mike. And we’re fine. Fantastic. Can you talk a little bit more about your role as a chief economist and really what you do at For Milk and Institute? Yeah. Well, it’s evolved over time.
Mm-hmm. I, I came in here to help direct the research, uh, five years ago. Um, and then I discovered that a hole that needed to be filled here was to get outside exposure. People like you Yeah. For help, for, to have more people understand what the Milt Institute does. And since I spent most of my life at the Fed, uh, at the I M F, I know a lot about the macro economy, inflation, unemployment, what the fed’s doing, what other countries are doing.
Mm-hmm. I opened up the International Monetary Funds, um, Hong Kong office. Mm-hmm. Right after the Asian crisis. So I lived in Hong Kong for three years. Um, so, so I know about a China and Hong Kong and the, and the East. So essentially what I do now is to use that expertise. I go on C N B C, Bloomberg and a lot of the business stations.
Sometimes c b catches me. Sometimes CNN catches me when it’s a breaking story about the economy and the global economy, and I talk about. Stuff out there. And, and in doing so, I represent Mike, I represent the Milking Institute in doing this, and I think that is a fabulous job. Mm-hmm. Uh, where as my friends tell me, you get to shoot your mouth off, you get paid for it, and you have Mike’s approval.
So it’s, it’s, it’s really fantastic. Sounds like a lot, a lot of wins there. So looking at the, the conference this year, what are some of maybe your favorite moments? And again, not the favorite moment. Not, not nobody competing, but a lot of initiatives here. I know over 800 speakers if, if my math is right on this one, there’s a lot going on.
It’s over 900 speaker, it’s over 900. I’m gonna take your word for defect. Chief Economist, by the way. Well, actually, I, I just saw that in the quarter here, so, okay. Heard numbers are up to 900 now. But, but you know, Mike has done this for 26 years now, I think. Yeah. And in the old days it used to be a gathering of a lot of clients that, of Mike’s and people who got together because what a great way to meet other clients and other people where business deals were made.
That was then, But boy has Mike involved this. Mm-hmm. Uh, this conference has now become a gathering. Um, there’s a very famous, uh, international conference in Switzerland, Davos. Yeah. It’s the World Economic Forum, and that’s where all the big wigs get together and talk about the state of the world. Topics include climate change to, to finance, to stuff in the, in the healthcare field.
Mm-hmm. This conference is really called. The Davos of the West. Mm-hmm. Um, it, it is, it is referred to as a Western California version of that kind of conference. Mm-hmm. But we have actually put a different spin on it, what we want. As our main focus, the mission of the Milkin Conference as opposed to Milkton Institute itself Yes.
Is to get people together who had never have gotten together before and to force them to talk to one another. My first year here, I, I, I, I said, God place is crowded. It is. Um, and, and you could barely walk down the corners. I said, Mike, There’s a hotel right next door. Why don’t we just expand our venues over there?
They’ll, you don’t understand the point of bringing people here is to force them to just touch each other and to really get them so crowded they can’t help but to talk to one another. Mm-hmm. And I, I think that really says a lot about Mike’s, the way Mike thinks. Mm-hmm. Right. He wants to bring people together in, into an event where there’s, there’s, there are interesting panels that you can go to, but his mandate to all the guests and especially the staff, uh, is this, Go to at least one or two meetings and, and conference, uh, uh, uh, panels that you never heard of, stuff that, that, that you would never in your wildest dreams think you’d be going to like petting dogs?
Yeah. Or, or, or, or, or, you know, if you’re, if you’re in finance. Go to something about mm-hmm. Artificial intelligence and, and, um, and healthcare or giving philosophy. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and find out from those experts because there’s inevitably something that you will pick up. Mm-hmm. So you, you know, I gotta put you on the spot.
What’s one of them? It doesn’t have to be one of the other, just, just one from this. Couldn’t slip outta there. No. Couldn’t let you do it. Just one from this. One of the, one of the nicest things about the Milkton Conference is that there are both public sessions and private sessions. Mm. Public sessions are where.
All the world’s experts, uh, like, you know, our very first opening panel mm-hmm. We had the managing director of the I mf and then we had as the second she, she was the warmup Act four, the head of city and, and all of the big banks. Yeah. And they talked about the state of the world. Mm-hmm. So those, the public panels and those, those are really newsmakers.
All the newspaper profess quote them, but the private sessions are, Meetings that are held under Chatham House Rules. That is, I can say stuff, but you can’t say, boy, bill said the most idiotic stuff here. Yeah, you can say the most idiotic stuff was said at this private co uh, meeting, but you can’t say Bill said it.
Right. So Chatham House rules, so I just had a meeting about the Fed and under Chatham House rules, and so we talked about topics like is there really a banking crisis out there and, and is there. Uh, something that we really should worry about, and I brought up this little factoid. You realize the United States that only about 11% of company financing.
Is brought about because of banks. Mm-hmm. And that most financing is done in the capital markets. People, uh, companies issue bonds. They issue equity. And all of the, the people you see here are, a lot of them are buyers of those bonds. Yeah. So the financing, like I said, most of the financing is done through the capital markets.
So why are we so worried about these banks? Yeah. You really think that banks, regional, small, little regional banks go under. That it’ll somehow crash the economy. Mm-hmm. So, I, I posed that as a question, and the answers were all over the place. Mm-hmm. Um, some of them said, This is a serious matter. Mm-hmm.
And others people said, wow, only 11%. Then why is the fed so adamant about saving these banks? And so the discussion went on and on and I, I really don’t wanna go into too many details, but, but that gives you a flavor of the wide range of views that are here. Mm-hmm. And when a crack pot me throws out a question that says, why should you care about bettings?
Yeah. Uh, it evokes a lot of discussion. And I think that’s, those are kind of my favorite moments where I can be somewhat of a ne obnoxious New York crackpot, which is where I come from, and at the same time, be able to get a really serious discussion about how do you manage your portfolios? You a pension fund.
Mm-hmm. Right? Representing teachers, firemen, uh, you know, utility people, all hospital workers. How do you manage their pension in this crazy world? Mm. Yeah. So let, let’s talk for a moment to maybe some of the other, like corporate executives out there and, you know, some of the other others that are leaders in industry that haven’t been involved with Milk and Institute or the conference.
Mm-hmm. Like, what should they be thinking about in terms of their involvement and, and why? Because as you mentioned, like touching shoulders, like getting in, you’re having these meaningful conversations, like what should they be thinking about if you’re starting out as a small entrepreneur? Mm-hmm. And you haven’t been in touch with, especially if you’re a younger startup mm-hmm.
And you haven’t been in touch with our young leaders, you are missing out on a lot because the amount of brain power that’s among in, in that circle is just phenomenal. And the amount of energy, because a lot of these guys are startups, these, a lot of these guys are at the verge of starting their businesses.
They’re looking for ways of funding. Taking a, a page out of Mike’s, uh, playbook, I need a different way of financing. Right. Let’s be creative. That’s what you can get by being part of Milkin. If you’re way up there in the ranks of the Fortune 500, fortune 100, um, and you haven’t dealt with milkin, you’re missing out because all your competitors are here.
Yeah. All your, all your colleagues, uh, that you went to business school are here and you’re not part of the conversation. And if you’re not part of the conversation, um, you’re often. Left out and, and in this very serious way because you’re missing out on opportunities. You’re missing out on ways of bettering your business.
You’re missing out on the latest and greatest ideas in how to survive in the corporate world. Yeah. And one of the things is, I’ve been getting used to here is a vernacular and that milk and stuff. So, and the milk and language. So one thing that I’ve heard is the milk and magic. That’s one. Watch your opinion on this one.
The, uh, think tank versus, I’m, I’m, I’m told that, that Mike says this is an. Action tank. Action Tank. Yes. Come on. Yes. Tell, tell me what that means. One of the places I, I, as I mentioned, I, I spent most of my professional life, federal Reserve. Mm-hmm. International Monetary Fund. I spent five years as City as their chief use economist.
And afterwards I said, now where do I go? Yeah. I went to City when my friend said, you know, You can’t keep your mouth shut, so you’re gonna get fired in six months. And, and I said, I’m gonna show you I’m gonna stay for five years. Yeah. Stay for five years. I said, all right, I’m outta here. And I said, where do I go?
So the think tanks were the Brookings, the, uh, American Enterprise Institute, the stuff in Washington, which is where I, I was based, uh, are the usual suspects of where I would be knocking on the door and saying, I’d like to be part of this, of this group. And then I met up with, The guys from here. Yeah. The Milk Institute.
And they said, bill, we’re on the West Coast. We operate completely differently. Right. First of all, you don’t have to worry about suit and tie, even though I’m wearing one now. Yeah. Uh, but, but the most important thing is we are about, Doing something. Mm-hmm. We’re not just about writing papers that nobody reads.
We’re not about trying to get on TV that no one watches, uh, because no one cares. The people here at the Milton Institute have a mission. Mm-hmm. We wanna be able to influence the world in a positive way. We wanna provide funding for people who need it. We wanna provide education for people who need it, and we wanna combine.
The people who need the education, with people, with the funding. Mm-hmm. And have the synergies form. So the notion of an action tank is, everything we do is to hold an event like this, bring together the relevant people, government people, entrepreneurs, uh, and financiers. Mm-hmm. Bring ’em together, sit them down and say, so what’s the problem?
Why can’t you guys get together and make a deal? That’s the heart of the action tank. Amazing. Love it. Well, bill, just have to say it has been great having you on the show today. Really a pleasure. And also to see the history that you’ve had with Milk and the Milk and Institute and the great work you’re doing, um, really carrying the message worldwide.
That being said, if somebody’s watching this or listening to this, and if they wanna. Follow the institute or follow your work within the institute, just in general? I mean, what’s the best way for people to get involved? Well, milk institute.org is our website, so Milkin Institute one word.org. And, and you’ll find a, a a, a nice display of a lot of things we do.
Mike has also got a new venture called the UM, center for the Advancement of the American Dream. And that’s a center that’s being built in Washington DC right across from the White House. Yeah. And, and when that opens up, it’ll be the tourist spot in Washington. Oh yeah. Um, and as for me, and you wanna know why it is, is it that you see a, an Asian face talking about the US economy or the global economy?
A rare occurrence these days? I have a LinkedIn page. Um, it just looked me up. William Lee, economist, William Lee Milk Institute, and you’ll find it. Fantastic. And for our audience, we’ll put all that information, the show notes really so that you can just click on the links and head right on over. And, um, bill really appreciate again, your time today and I know you got a busy, hectic conference schedule.
Um, thanks again for coming on the show, Adam. It’s a pleasure and anytime.
