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Simon Johnson

Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management. He is also a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., a co-founder of BaselineScenario.com, a widely cited website on the global economy, and is a member of the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers.

Mr. Johnson appears regularly on NPR's Planet Money podcast in the Economist House Calls feature, is a weekly contributor to NYT.com's Economix, and has a video blog feature on The New Republic's website. He is co-director of the NBER project on Africa and President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (term of office 2008-2009).

From March 2007 through the end of August 2008, Professor Johnson was the International Monetary Fund's Economic Counsellor (chief economist) and Director of its Research Department. At the IMF, Professor Johnson led the global economic outlook team, helped formulate innovative responses to worldwide financial turmoil, and was among the earliest to propose new forms of engagement for sovereign wealth funds. He was also the first IMF chief economist to have a blog.

His PhD is in economics from MIT, while his MA is from the University of Manchester and his BA is from the University of Oxford.

Visit: The Baseline Scenario




Simon Johnson's Latest Articles | 101

Is the ‘Volcker Rule’ More than a Marketing Slogan?

Jan 24, 2010| 

At the broadest level, Thursday’s announcement from the White House was encouraging – for the first time, the president endorsed potential new constraints on... Read »

Krugman for the Fed

Jan 23, 2010| 1

The case for Ben Bernanke’s reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls from the... Read »

Tim Geithner Needs to Get with the Program

Jan 22, 2010| 

The details of the new White House banking policy are somewhat vague and in places borderline incoherent – e.g., what exactly does “The President’s proposal... Read »

3 Specific Questions that Bernanke Must Answer

Jan 22, 2010| 15

Ben Bernanke’s reconfirmation as chair of the Federal Reserve is in disarray. With President Obama having launched, on Thursday morning, a major new initiative... Read »

As Is?

Jan 21, 2010| 

As Is? … The White House background briefing is that their proposals would freeze biggest bank size “as is” — this makes no sense at all. Twenty years... Read »

Paul Volcker Prevails

Jan 21, 2010| 5

Paul Volcker, legendary central banker turned radical reformer of our financial system, has won an important round.  The WSJ is now reporting: President Barack... Read »

A Trap of Their Own Design

Jan 19, 2010| 

At this stage in the electoral cycle, Democrats should be running hard against big banks and their consequences.  Some roots of our current economic difficulties... Read »

The Citi Never Weeps

Jan 14, 2010| 

On the first day of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Phil Angelides demonstrated a gift for powerful and memorable metaphor: accusing Goldman Sachs (GS)... Read »

“I Do Not Blame the Regulators”

Jan 13, 2010| 1

Jamie Dimon has all the best lines. In May 2009, he told JPMorgan Chase (JPM) shareholders that 2008 was probably “our finest year ever.” That was before he... Read »

Bank Tax Arrives

Jan 11, 2010| 

The Obama administration tipped its hand today – they are planning a new tax of some form on the banking sector.  But the details are deliberately left vague... Read »

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