Typical street scene in Santa Ana, El Salvador. (Photo: iStock)
IMF Survey: MIT Professor Named IMF Research Head
March 19, 2007
Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was nominated by Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato to become the IMF's Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department.
Johnson has `right blend of knowledge, skills, and experience' to lead IMF's Research Department, said Rodrigo de Rato. (Photo: Eugene Salazar/IMF)
IMF appointment
Johnson succeeds Raghuram Rajan, who resigned in January to return to the University of Chicago, and under whom Johnson worked from 2004 to 2006 as an Assistant Director for Research.
In proposing Johnson, de Rato said the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management possesses "the right blend of knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to successfully lead the Fund's Research Department and to excel in the role of our chief economist." Most of Johnson's work has focused on financial and economic development. He has done fieldwork in many parts of the globe—for example, Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union. He ran a research center in Russia.
'In-house expertise'
Johnson, 44, said in a telephone interview that the only job better than the one he now has at MIT is research director at the IMF. He said the reason an organization like the IMF has its own research capability rather than buying from the outside is to have the "in-house expertise" to support the Fund as it carries out its responsibilities. He called both the basic and policy-oriented research "excellent."
De Rato, in a statement, called Johnson "a recognized leader in original economic research relevant to the Fund, including the study of the causes and effects of economic crises, as well as development and poverty issues. He has a proven ability to conceptualize a strong policy-oriented agenda, with an enduring interest in global economic policy issues and a substantial level of expertise relevant to developing, emerging market, and advanced economies. . . . Also, he has the ability to communicate complex issues to policymakers and the general public."
Johnson, who holds both U.S. and U.K. citizenship, was a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Market Information and concluded in an assessment that is part of the committee's 2001 report that there is a need for continued strong regulation of the securities market.