What’s more intense than leading the IMF during a financial crisis? For Simon Johnson, it was co-authoring a book with fellow economist (and past guest) Daron Acemoglu. Written in six months, their book Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, argues that widespread prosperity is not the natural consequence of technological progress, but instead only happens when there is a conscious effort to bend the direction and gains from technological advances away from the elite.
Tyler and Simon discuss the ideas in the book and on Simon’s earlier work on finance and banking, including at what size a US bank is small enough to fail, the future of deposit insurance, when we’ll see a central bank digital currency, his top proposal for reforming the IMF, how quickly the Industrial Revolution led to widespread prosperity, whether AI will boost wages, how he changed his mind on the Middle Ages, the key difference in outlook between him and Daron, how he thinks institutions affect growth, how to fix northern England's economic climate, whether the UK should join NAFTA, improving science policy, the Simon Johnson production function, whether MBAs are overrated, the importance of communication, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded March 21st, 2023
Other ways to connect
Jacob Mikanowski on Eastern Europe
Re-release: Claudia Goldin on the Economics of Inequality
Ada Palmer on Viking Metaphysics, Contingent Moments, and Censorship
Lazarus Lake on Endurance, Uncertainty, and Reaching One’s Potential
Jerusalem Demsas on The Dispossessed, Gulliver's Travels, and Of Boys and Men
Vishy Anand on Staying in the Game
Celebrating Marginal Revolution's 20th Anniversary
Paul Graham on Ambition, Art, and Evaluating Talent
Noam Dworman on Stand-Up Comedy and Staying Open-Minded
David Bentley Hart on Reason, Faith, and Diversity in Religious Thought
Reid Hoffman on the Possibilities of AI
Noam Chomsky on Language, Left Libertarianism, and Progress
Peter Singer on Utilitarianism, Influence, and Controversial Ideas
Seth Godin on Marketing, Meaning, and the Bibs We Wear
Kevin Kelly on Advice, Travel, and Tech
Anna Keay on Historic Architecture, Monarchy, and 17th Century Britain
Jessica Wade on Chiral Materials, Open Knowledge, and Representation in STEM
Jonathan GPT Swift on Jonathan Swift
Tom Holland on History, Christianity, and the Value of the Countryside
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast