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An AI challenge only humans can solve
In their new book, “Power and Progress,” Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson ask whether the benefits of AI will be shared widely or feed inequality.
May 17, 2023
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Simon Johnson
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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. In 2007-08 he was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, and he currently co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. In February 2021, Johnson joined the board of directors of Fannie Mae.
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.
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.
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
Honors
Johnson wins Jamieson Prize
Publications
Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.
Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson. New York, NY: PublicAffairs/Hachette Book Group, 2023.
"Place-based Productivity and Costs in Science."
Gruber, Jonathan, Simon Johnson, and Enrico Moretti, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6638-21. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, September 2022.
"Transitioning out of the Coronavirus Lockdown: A Framework for Zone-Based Social Distancing."
Friedman, Eric, John Friedman, Simon Johnson, and Adam Landsberg, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6097-20. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, April 2020.
Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream.
Gruber, Jonathan, and Simon Johnson. New York, NY: Public Affairs, 2019.
"What Countries and Companies Can Do When Trade and Cybersecurity Overlap."
Madnick, Stuart, Simon Johnson, and Keman Huang. Harvard Business Review, January 4, 2019.
The Impact of Blockchain Technology on Finance: A Catalyst for Change.
Casey, Michael, Jonah Crane, Gary Gensler, Simon Johnson, and Neha Narula. Geneva, Switzerland: Center for Economic Policy Research, 2018.
Recent Insights
Ideas Made to Matter
It’s not too late to rechart the course of technology
In their new book, MIT’s Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson argue that society’s powerful gatekeepers need to stop being mesmerized by tech billionaires.
May 16, 2023
Media Highlights
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CNBC | Squawk Box
Former IMF chief economist on why the current banking crisis is unlike t...
Simon Johnson, MIT professor and former IMF chief economist, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the banking crisis.
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Los Angeles Times (Subscription Required) (Opinion Piece)
The writers' strike is partly about AI. They're right to worry
"We need a pivot ... toward a focus on 'machine usefulness,' the idea that computers should primarily enhance human capabilities."
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Financial Times (Subscription Required)
If tech is driving the 'productivity bandwagon', it's time to hit the br...
"Power and Progress," by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson explores several moments when technology led to the opposite of shared prosperity.
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The Los Angeles Times (Opinion Piece)
Opinion: The Fed just raised interest rates. Does that mean there is no ...
"If we don't act quickly, we could find ourselves on a prolonged and steeper downward path — with damaging effects for the economy."
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