Faculty
SIMON JOHNSON is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is head of the Global Economics and Management group. At MIT, he is also co-director of the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and a Research Affiliate at Blueprint Labs.
In 2024, Johnson received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel, joint with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”
In 2007-08, Johnson was chief economist and director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. He currently co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council with Erkki Liikanen. In February 2021, Johnson joined the board of directors of Fannie Mae, where he is vice chair of the audit committee and a member of the risk and capital committee. He is a Research Associate at the NBER and a Fellow at CEPR.
Johnson’s most recent book, with Daron Acemoglu, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence. Power and Progress is currently scheduled for publication in about 20 languages around the world. It was long listed for the 2023 Financial Times and Schroders Book of the Year and for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and it was shortlisted for the 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize.
His previous book, with Jonathan Gruber, Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream, explained how to create millions of good new jobs around the U.S., through renewed public investment in research and development. This proposal attracted bipartisan support, as reflected in the 2022 Chips and Science Act.
Johnson was previously a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., a cofounder of BaselineScenario.com, a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Economic Advisors, and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. From July 2014 to early 2017, Johnson was a member of the Financial Research Advisory Committee of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR), within which he chaired the Global Vulnerabilities Working Group.
“The Quiet Coup” received over a million views when it appeared in The Atlantic in early 2009. His book 13 Bankers: the Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown (with James Kwak), was an immediate bestseller and has become one of the mostly highly regarded books on the financial crisis. Their follow-up book on U.S. fiscal policy, White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters for You, won praise across the political spectrum. Johnson’s academic research papers on long-term economic development, corporate finance, political economy, and public health are widely cited.
“For his articulate and outspoken support for public policies to end too-big-to-fail”, Johnson was named a Main Street Hero by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) in 2013.
IMPORTANT: For any media or appointment requests to Professor Johnson please be sure to copy Michelle Fiorenza: fiorenza@mit.edu
Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson, Working Paper. May 2024. NBER Working Paper No. 32416.
Johnson, Simon and Catherine Wolfram. Brookings Institution Working Paper (2024). Appendix.
Johnson, Simon and Daron Acemoglu. Project Syndicate, January 2, 2024.
Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson. Project Syndicate, December 15, 2023.
Capraro, Valerio, Austin Lentsch, and Daron Acemoglu et al., Working Paper. December 2023.
Johnson, Simon, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Ilona Sologoub. Project Syndicate, December 4, 2023.
Nobel laureate Simon Johnson says that AI can be an equalizing force, but warns that new technology does not automatically benefit everyone.
MIT Sloan Professor Simon Johnson, PhD ’89, credits the success of his and his fellow Nobel laureates’ research to their students.
"Governance matters, and weak governance always leads to trouble."
"Trump could score a quick and impressive win against China: by turning Russia entirely out of Ukraine and restoring the pre-invasion borders."
Donald Trump made tariffs and mass deportations a cornerstone of his winning campaign. He will have a hard time delivering on these promises.
"One way we might take high productivity gains is by using resources more effectively, all kinds of resources, and by respecting the planet."
Alumni are invited to join MIT Sloan in New York City on February 5 for an evening with Nobel laureate Professor Simon Johnson, PhD ’89.
Alumni are invited to join MIT Sloan in Washington DC on February 7 for an evening with Nobel laureate Professor Simon Johnson, PhD ’89.
This eight-week online program offers you the opportunity to explore macroeconomics from a business perspective, guided by renowned economist Professor Roberto Rigobon.
Over six weeks, you’ll explore the technical and strategic considerations for robust, beneficial, and responsible AI deployment. You’ll examine the various stages of a proprietary ML Deployment Framework and unlock new opportunities by investigating the key challenges and their related impact. Guided by leading experts and MIT academics, you’ll build a toolkit for addressing these challenges within your own organization and context.
