Economist Simon Johnson has long delved into inequalities, among nations and among peoples and institutions. He was at his home in Washington, D.C., when he received the news of his Nobel prize.

Simon Johnson: Well, it’s certainly David, I think, a driver of institutions, and it’s going to have a big impact on who has a good job and who doesn’t going forward.

Johnson: One CEO said to me recently the cult of size on Wall Street is finished. People used to ask him, when are you going to acquire things and become bigger? Now they don’t ask that anymore.

Simon Johnson starts us off with "lightning round" answers to questions on the banks, Europe, Japan and, because the monthly jobs data came out this morning, ...

Simon Johnson, the former IMF economist has become the Lil Wayne of meltdown commentary. He's everywhere: This American Life, Fresh Air, TPM, etc.

Simon Johnson. Latest. The Next Panic. Europe’s crisis will be followed by a more devastating one, likely beginning in Japan. Peter Boone and Simon Johnson. September 19, 2012. Koji Sasahara/AP.

Tim Fernholz has an interesting essay/profile of the ubiquitous Simon Johnson over at The American Prospect. Others, like Dani Rodrik, have noted the irony of a former IMF true-believer critiquing ...

Johnson's big idea is that 1) America has ceded too much power to Wall Street oligarchs and 2) we need to nationalize our banks and then break them up. These are two really important points.