The Huffington Post has just hired Simon Johnson, co-founder of international economics site BaselineScenario.com and MIT economics professor, as contributing business editor.

Editor in chief and co-founder Arianna Huffington said in a statement, "Given the impact economic policy has on the daily lives of average Americans, it’s critically important for insightful voices and perspectives such as Simon’s to be given as wide a platform as possible."

Johnson is and a member of the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers and contributes to The New York Times' Economix blog, His upcoming book, co-authored with James Kwak, of 13 Bankers, will be published by Pantheon March 30, 2010. They explain how the Obama administration has missed out on key financial reform policies.

From Johnson, in a statement:

“The deregulation of banking has produced great danger,” observes Prof. Johnson, “And the recent government bailout has only worsened the underlying problems. Unless the biggest banks are reined in – and become small enough to fail – we are headed for serious trouble.”