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Simon Johnson

Simon Johnson

Writing for PS since 2007
182 commentaries

Simon Johnson, a 2024 Nobel laureate in economics and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Faculty Director of MIT’s Shaping the Future of Work initiative, and Co-Chair of the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. He is a co-author (with Daron Acemoglu) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, 2023). 

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  1. The World According to the Oligarchs
    johnson183 Getty Images

    The World According to the Oligarchs

    Mar 11, 2025 Simon Johnson explains how techno-monopolists’ consolidation of political power in the United States will play out.

  2. Greenland’s Future Must Be Decided by Greenland’s People
    johnson184_Picture AllianceGettyImages_greenland_flag Picture Alliance/Getty Images

    Greenland’s Future Must Be Decided by Greenland’s People

    Mar 3, 2025 Simon Johnson dismisses the argument that US national security depends on gaining control over the island.

  3. The Economic Consequences of Trump 2.0
    johnson182_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_trump Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    The Economic Consequences of Trump 2.0

    Jan 3, 2025 Simon Johnson explains why reality is unlikely to come close to matching the US president-elect's rhetoric.

  4. Trump Can Win Against China – in Ukraine
    johnson181_Alexander ManzyukAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_russian oil Alexander Manzyuk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    Trump Can Win Against China – in Ukraine

    Nov 25, 2024 Simon Johnson & Oleg Ustenko argue that forcing Russia to withdraw would yield a clearer win for the US than tariffs on Chinese imports.

  5. Only Harris Will Deliver Shared Prosperity
    johnson180_JIM WATSONAFP via Getty Images_kamala harris JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

    Only Harris Will Deliver Shared Prosperity

    Nov 1, 2024 Simon Johnson says that Donald Trump’s discredited protectionism would benefit the few at the expense of the many.

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  1. wallach2_Frederic J. BrownGettyImages_us_port Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images
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    What Trump’s Tariff Critics Are Getting Wrong

    Lori Wallach laments the Democratic Party’s misguided criticism of a potentially effective policy tool.
  2. palacio167_Picture AllianceGettyImages_hydrogen_pipeline_germany Picture Alliance/Getty Images
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    Europe’s Security Depends on a European Energy Union

    Ana Palacio advocates a pragmatic approach to reviving the EU’s competitiveness and bolstering its strategic autonomy.
  3. kalemliozcan5_Burak KaraGettyImages_istanbul_protests Burak Kara/Getty Images
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    Authoritarianism Is Turkey’s Biggest Economic Risk

    Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan

    More than just a popular mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu is a national symbol of the political pluralism and democratic possibility that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sought to quash. Given the precarious state of the Turkish economy, his sudden arrest and imprisonment may prove to be the last straw.

     believes the current mass protests are about more than the arrest of the country’s leading opposition figure.
  4. lee55_TANG CHHIN SOTHYAFP via Getty Images_asean+3 Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images
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    Asia Must Unite to Survive Trump 2.0

    Lee Jong-Wha highlights ways the region's economies can boost their resilience and global influence.
  5. gabriel15_Justin Tallis - WPA PoolGetty Images_EUcoalitionofthewilling Justin Tallis/WPA/Pool/Getty Images
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    Europe and the Next World Order

    Sigmar Gabriel & Peter Eitel observe that the continent has once again become the fulcrum of global politics.
  6. hausmann121_Artur WidakNurPhoto via Getty Images_applestoreasia Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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    Trump’s $16 Trillion Trade Blind Spot

    Ricardo Hausmann identifies the fundamental flaw in the administration’s efforts to dismantle the postwar international order.
  7. roach176_Morris MacMatzenGettyImages_hamburg_port Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
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    A World Turned Inside Out

    Stephen S. Roach

    The geostrategic shock that has accompanied Donald Trump’s return to the White House is the functional equivalent of a full-blown crisis. It is likely to have a lasting impact on the US and Chinese economies, and the contagion is almost certain to spread throughout the world through cross-border trade and capital flows.

     likens Donald Trump’s reversal of America’s global leadership role to a full-blown crisis, similar to COVID-19.
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    Jorge Heine on the BRICS, active non-alignment, the US dollar, and more

    Jorge Heine urges the Organization of American States to demonstrate leadership in Haiti, shows how small countries can implement a foreign policy based on active non-alignment, calls on China and Europe to diversify the global monetary system, and more.
  9. fengler4_SIMON MAINAAFP via Getty Images_africadigitalbank Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
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    Financial Inclusion Must Reach the Last Billion

    Wolfgang Fengler explains why economic growth alone is not enough to extend the ladder of opportunity to all.

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