Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the IMF, is a professor at MIT Sloan, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and co-founder of a leading economics blog, The Baseline Scenario. He is the co-author, with James Kwak, of White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You.
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Simon Johnson
Commentaries by Simon Johnson
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Boards on Their Backs
WASHINGTON, DC – The recent governance controversy at JPMorgan Chase has masked a much larger issue. Regardless of Jamie Dimon’s victory in …
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Big Banks’ Tall Tales
WASHINGTON, DC – There are two competing narratives about recent financial-reform efforts and the dangers that very large banks now pose aro…
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Austerity’s Children
WASHINGTON, DC – When economists discuss “fiscal adjustment,” they typically frame it as an abstract and complex goal. But the issue is actu…
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The Political Importance of Elizabeth Warren
WASHINGTON, DC – Financial reform in the United States and worldwide hangs in the balance. The problems that brought us the terrible crisis …
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Germany’s Gold Delusion
WASHINGTON, DC – Germany’s gold is on the move. For the first time since official gold transactions became more transparent, the Bundesbank …
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Financial Reform’s Breakthrough Year
ZANZIBAR – Here’s an odd prediction for the coming year: 2013 will be a watershed for financial reform. True, while the global financial cri…
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America’s Fiscal Cliff Dwellers
WASHINGTON, DC – In early 2012, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used the term “fiscal cliff” to grab the attention of lawmakers and th…
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Too Big To Handle
WASHINGTON, DC – In the discussion of whether America’s largest financial institutions have become too big, a sea change in opinion is under…
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Mitt and the Moochers
WASHINGTON, DC – The Republican Party has some potentially winning themes for America’s presidential and congressional elections in November…
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America’s Exceptional Fiscal Conservatism
WASHINGTON, DC – In most countries, to be “fiscally conservative” means to worry a great deal about the budget deficit and debt levels – and…
Big Banks’ Tall Tales
Ajit Kapoor: what This is a perfect example of academia preaching to the world about common sense. However failing to address the Geo political control by the big banks on powerful governments. I agree with much …
Big Banks’ Tall Tales
de Lafayette: {SJ: After all, more debt (relative to equity) means a higher payoff when things go well. And, when things go badly, it becomes the taxpayers’ problem (or the problem of some foreign government and t…