Power and Consequences

Simon and Gary discuss prediction markets, where users can make bets on, well, just about anything. How do these markets work? Should they be regulated, and if so, under whose authority? What might happen if regulation is insufficient?Our newsletter has a new home! Visit powerandconsequences.com to sign up to receive bonus thoughts on each episode.Host bios: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.

A lively discussion on why Greenland has returned to the geopolitical stage. They explore Greenland's geography, population, economy, and historic ties to the U.S. The conversation covers critical minerals, military bases, and how actions there could reshape relations among the U.S., Europe, China, and Russia.

Simon and Gary consider the current Iran crisis, what the short- and long-term effects on oil and gas prices will be, how the impact might spread to sectors like agriculture, and who will ultimately profit from the crisis.For bonus thoughts on each episode, visit powerandconsequences.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter!Host bios: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.

A deep dive into how the Federal Reserve works and who truly wields monetary power. They trace shifts in central-bank roles, from fighting inflation to acting as a financial 'fire department'. The conversation covers leadership changes, legal battles over removals, and the limits of policy when facing bubbles, supply shocks, and emerging pressures like AI and climate.

Simon and Gary tackle the history of immigration in the U.S. and think about what lessons from the past can be applied to today.For bonus thoughts on each episode, visit powerandconsequences.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter!Host bios: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.

In this special preview, former SEC chair Gary Gensler and Nobel Prize-winning economist Simon Johnson discuss why they've decided to start a podcast and what you can expect from future episodes of Power and Consequences.Subscribe to the Power and Consequences Substack for bonus thoughts on each week's topic: https://simonhrjohnson.substack.com/s/power-and-consequencesEconomic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration, which Simon and Gary co-edited, can be found here.Host bios:Gary Gensler is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management as well as of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and former Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Treasury Department. With broad experience in the private sector, advising political leadership, and running policymaking agencies, Gary has been teaching at MIT’s Sloan School of Management since 2017. Gary also coauthored a book presenting common-sense investing advice for everyday Americans, The Great Mutual Fund Trap, (Broadway Books, 2002). Simon Johnson was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund in the run-up to the Global Financial Crisis (2007-08) and is the long-time head of the Global Economics and Management Group at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Best selling author of 13 Bankers, Jump-Starting America, and Power and Progress. In 2024, for his work on “institutions and economic growth,” Simon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Simon also previously co-founded and ran a successful blog, BaselineScenario, which discussed developments in the global economic and financial system. In 2025, the British government appointed him as an “AI Ambassador”. At MIT, Simon co-directs the Stone Center for Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work.