Simon Johnson
Coauthor, White House Burning and 13 Bankers, a New York Times Bestseller.
Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT's Sloan School of Management. Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Understanding America's debt crisis —
and how to solve it.
The national debt has dominated discussions of American politics and economics for years now, but there's still very little clarity on the subject among citizens and almost no progress made towards a solution in Washington. That's where Simon Johnson steps in with his new book, White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You. Simon's powerful storytelling and analysis are already familiar to you from his bestselling 13 Bankers, a tough look at the U.S. financial sector; now you get to see them applied to the most pressing issue in this year's election.
"A must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the true nature of our fiscal problems. A fascinating and lively history of how we got into this budgetary
mess and a brilliant analysis, dispassionate and balanced,
of what we need to do to get out of it."
— Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lord of Finance
A talk from Simon sheds light on all facets of the American budget crisis, from the nitty-gritty of how the government borrows to the political failures that led us to the current mess. His deep understanding of the situation allows him to make intelligent, concrete solutions about how to solve today's problems — a breath of fresh air in a murky, politicized discussion.
Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the IMF, is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a member of the FDIC's Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. With co-author James Kwak, he co-founded BaselineScenario.com, a widely-cited website dedicated to following the current economic crisis. He is a regular contributor to Bloomberg NewsPlanet Money podcast, The New York Times' Economix blog, and many others.
Credentials
.
and how to solve it.
The national debt has dominated discussions of American politics and economics for years now, but there's still very little clarity on the subject among citizens and almost no progress made towards a solution in Washington. That's where Simon Johnson steps in with his new book, White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You. Simon's powerful storytelling and analysis are already familiar to you from his bestselling 13 Bankers, a tough look at the U.S. financial sector; now you get to see them applied to the most pressing issue in this year's election.
mess and a brilliant analysis, dispassionate and balanced,
of what we need to do to get out of it."
— Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lord of Finance
A talk from Simon sheds light on all facets of the American budget crisis, from the nitty-gritty of how the government borrows to the political failures that led us to the current mess. His deep understanding of the situation allows him to make intelligent, concrete solutions about how to solve today's problems — a breath of fresh air in a murky, politicized discussion.
Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the IMF, is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a member of the FDIC's Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. With co-author James Kwak, he co-founded BaselineScenario.com, a widely-cited website dedicated to following the current economic crisis. He is a regular contributor to Bloomberg NewsPlanet Money podcast, The New York Times' Economix blog, and many others.
Credentials
- Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Cofounder, BaselineScenario.com
- Contributing Business Editor, The Huffington Post
- Economic Counsellor & Director of Research (Chief Economist), IMF (Mar-07 – Aug-08)
- Member, FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee
- Member, SEC Advisory Committee on Market Information
- Member, CBO's Panel of Economic Advisers
- Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research
- Research Associate, NBER
- BREAD affiliate
- Member, Advisory Group at the Center for Global Development
- Member, Advisory Board, CASE in Warsaw
- Non-resident Research Fellow, Asian Institute for Corporate Governance, Korea University
- Co-director of the NBER project on Africa
- Former Assistant Director, IMF's Research Dept
- President, Association for Comparative Economic Studies
- Ph.D. in economics; MIT; MA, University of Manchester; BA, University of Oxford
.