Robert Johnson

Executive Director, Institute for New Economic Thinking, 2009-Present
Senior Fellow, Project on Global Finance, The Roosevelt Institute, 2009-Present

Robert Johnson serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Finance Project for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York. Previously, Dr. Johnson was a managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. He was a managing director at the Bankers Trust Company. Dr. Johnson has served as chief economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire and was senior economist of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici. Johnson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980.

Issues: Anti-Poverty programs, Anti-Trust Regulations, Austerity, Bank Bail Out, Bank Bonuses, Banking and Finance, Budget and Tax Policy, Capitalism, Discretionary Spending, Economic Forecasting, Economic Mobility, Economic Theory, Economy and Gender, Economy and Race, Efficient Government, Family/Medical leave, Fannie/Freddie, Federal Budget, Financial Markets, Government Investment, Healthcare, Housing Market Collapse, Jobs, Keynes v. Friedman, Labor Force, Living Wage, Medicare/Medicaid, Middle Class, Municipal/State Budgets, National Debt, Off Shore Tax Shelters, OSHA, Payroll Taxes, Privatization, Ratings Agencies, Retirement, Securitization, Service Economy, Social Insurance, Social Investment, Social Security, Too Big To Fail, Unemployment Insurance, Unfunded Mandates, Unions, US Infrastructure, Welfare, Workforce Development

Experience:

• Managing Director, Soros Fund Management
• Chief Economist, U.S. Senate Banking Committee
• Senior Economist, U.S. Senate Budget Committee
• Managing Director, Bankers Trust Company

Education:

Ph.D., Economics, Princeton University
M.A., Economics, Princeton University
B.S., Electrical Engineering and Economics, M.I.T.

Additional Issues: Comparative labor markets, Demand for labor, Demography and homelessness, Earnings inequality, the Welfare State, Discrimination, Voting, Economic History.