Simon Johnson is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since September 2008. Previously he was the International Monetary Fund's Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department (2007–08). At the IMF, Professor Johnson led the global economic outlook team, helped formulate innovative responses to worldwide financial turmoil, and was among the first to propose new forms of engagement for sovereign wealth funds. He was also the first IMF chief economist to have a blog.

Professor Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management, a position he has held since 2004. His previous appointments include Assistant Director in the IMF's Research Department (2004–06) and visiting fellow at the Institute (2006–07).

As an academic, in policy roles, and with the private sector, over the past 20 years Professor Johnson has worked on practical strategies for dealing with major economic disruptions in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, East Asia, and Latin America. His current research focuses on how policymakers can limit the impact of negative shocks, manage the risks faced by their countries, and sustain growth. Recent papers have appeared or are forthcoming in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Journal of Finance. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Comparative Economics, and Cliometrica (a new Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History).