Ideas Made to Matter
Tech hubs are expensive, but (mostly) worth it
Productivity gains from clustered innovation outweigh higher labor and real estate costs. Except in San Francisco.
Jan 5, 2023
Faculty
Simon Johnson
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SIMON JOHNSON is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship 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 Jon Gruber, Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream, explains how to create millions of good new jobs around the U.S., through renewed public investment in research and development. This proposal has 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, and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. From July 2014 to 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 on economic development, corporate finance, political economy, and public health is 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. Hachette Book Group, Forthcoming.
"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
To 'build back better,' invest in R&D, researchers say
Roads and bridges are a start, but 21st century job creation needs federal research and development in U.S. cities with potential, these authors say.
Aug 11, 2021
Media Highlights
Press
Source:
Los Angeles Times (Opinion Piece)
Opinion: Beyond saving Silicon Valley Bank's depositors, here's what nee...
"Regulation and supervision will need to be strengthened in an appropriate manner. Many people said this after 2008, but not enough was done."
Press
Source:
Project Syndicate (Opinion Piece)
Are Russian oil prices being rigged?
"Some people involved in trading Russian oil may be lying to data providers, officials, and the broader market about transaction prices."
Press
Source:
The Washington Post
Who is Lael Brainard?
"I'm sure that was a very lonely struggle. But it was quite effective...and made people think about the consequences of [relaxing regulations.]"
Press
Source:
Project Syndicate (Opinion Piece)
What's wrong with ChatGPT?
"Everyone is focused on leveraging AI to cut labor costs, with little concern … for the future of American spending power."
Executive Education
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Making AI Work: Machine Intelligence for Business and Society
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.
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Economics for Business
This eight-week online program offers you the opportunity to explore macroeconomics from a business perspective, guided by renowned economist Professor Roberto Rigobon.
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