At The Money: Investing in Freedom

The podcast explores the Freedom Index, a strategy for emerging market investing that prioritizes countries based on civil, political, and economic freedoms rather than market capitalization. Perth Toll, founder of Life and Liberty Indexes and creator of the Freedom 100 Emerging Market ETF (FRDM), explains how the index uses third-party data from the Cato and Fraser Institutes to weight countries, arguing that freer countries offer better growth potential. The discussion covers the importance of civil freedoms (rights to life and liberty), political freedoms (rule of law, free press), and economic freedoms (property rights, free trade) for creating a stable and transparent investment environment. Toll emphasizes that independent verification of data and the ability to enforce contracts are crucial for accurate investment analysis and business operations, citing China as an example of the risks associated with a lack of judicial independence and freedom of expression.