Steve Hanke (Bus’64, Econ’69)

Faces of Leeds Snapshot

Name: Steve Hanke
Major: Marketing
Hometown: Atlantic, Iowa

After updating Leeds with a lively class note, Steve Hanke offered a few insights shaped by his career as a professor and leader in economics. He shared an oral history, An Interview with Steve H. Hanke on His Life and Work in Economics, and trading notes, “Commodity and Foreign Exchange Trading—Some Notes and High Points.”

You have had a long career both witnessing and influencing how the field of economics has evolved. What would you say are the most essential concepts that today’s business students must understand about economics?

The secret to understanding economics and how it shapes the world is to understand that the economy, both domestic and international, is nothing more than a complex web of balance sheets. That is why there is nothing more important than a balance sheet. I make this clear in my most recent book, which I co-authored with Matt Sekerke, Making Money Work: How To Rewrite the Rules of the Financial System (Wiley, 2025).

In addition to higher education, you have held several influential roles: as a member of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers and as an adviser to foreign heads of state and foreign cabinet ministers; and as president of Toronto Trust Argentina in Buenos Aires. In 1998, you were named one of the 25 most influential people in the world by World Trade Magazine. Reflecting back on your accomplishments, how do you advise undergraduate and graduate students to pursue their dreams?

It’s most important to practice the 5 Ps: prior preparation prevents poor performance. Remember what Louis Pasteur once said: 'In fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.'

Some call the advent of AI the fourth industrial revolution. How do you see economics changing in relation to the use of AI?

AI is bound to promote more of what’s called 'Do-It-Yourself-Economics,' which is a short-hand term for lazy thinking in which many half-baked theories and ill-conceived nostrums are casually thrown around and repeated.

 I still 'work' seven days a week, which I have always done. That said, I have been fortunate enough to be able to engage in activities that interested me. So, as they say, I’ve never felt like I’ve “worked” a day in my life.