Power and Consequences
Every day seems to bring unprecedented news in the political, economic, technological, and financial spheres. What exactly is happening, what matters most, and what will affect you–or simply fade away?
Inspired by our success with MIT students in our ‘Public Policy & the Private Sector’ course, we decided to open this discussion to the broader public – those seeking to understand the ground truths and consequences of today’s power and policy debates.
Each week, Gary Gensler and Simon Johnson tackle a single policy topic, drawing on historical context to explain how the events of today will affect you tomorrow. With decades of experience at the highest levels of government, finance, and economics, they cut through the noise to focus on what actually matters — and why.
About the Hosts
Gary Gensler, former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management, and Professor of the Practice of Finance, at MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, finance, and economic policy. He previously served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Chair of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission, and Senior Advisor to Senator Paul Sarbanes. Earlier, Gensler was at Goldman Sachs for 18 years, where he became a partner.
Simon Johnson, a 2024 Nobel laureate in economics and former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, head of its Global Economics and Management group, and Co-Director of MIT’s Stone Center for Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. He co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council and is an AI Ambassador for the UK. Simon is the author of 13 Bankers, Jump-Starting America, and Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.
Gary & Simon also co-edited, with Ugo Panizza and Beatrice Weder di Mauro, Economic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration.
Listen
Power and Consequences is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A complete list of podcast links is available here: pod.link.
