James Kwak is best known as co-founder, in September, 2008, with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario a commentary on the global financial crisis, mostly focused on the situation in the USA. Kwak received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (1997.)[1]
He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and later was Director of Product Marketing at Ariba, where he led product strategy and marketing for the Platform Solutions division and the Ariba Network. He was a co-founder of Guidewire Software, an independent software vendor for the property & casualty insurance industry.
He is author, with Simon Johnson, of the 2010 book 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown (ISBN 978-0307379054).