Paul Blustein Keynote Speaker

Paul Blustein is an award-winning economic journalist and acclaimed author who makes the high drama of global finance, crisis politics and trade battles vivid and intelligible for expert and non-expert audiences. With 40+ years covering economic issues, he maps how decisions in Washington, Beijing, Brussels and global institutions reverberate through markets worldwide. He equips leaders with context, clarity and foresight.

Blustein reported for The Wall Street Journal (1979–1987) and The Washington Post (1987–2006), serving in the Post’s Tokyo bureau (1990–1995) before becoming its international economics correspondent in 1995. His reporting has taken him to more than 50 countries across six continents. Honors include the Gerald Loeb Award, business journalism’s most prestigious prize.

His narrative nonfiction catalogue chronicles global economic upheaval: The Chastening (2001), And the Money Kept Rolling in (And Out) (2005), Misadventures of the Most Favored Nations (2009), Off Balance (2013), Laid Low (2016), Schism (2019), and King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World’s Dominant Currency (Yale University Press, March 2025). Reviewers in publications such as The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs and The New York Review of Books have described Blustein’s books as “riveting,” “gripping,” “engrossing,” “authoritative,” “fascinating,” “richly nuanced,” and “superbly reported.”

Beyond journalism, Blustein has held roles at Brookings, CSIS and CIGI, contributing to research on global economic governance. His articles feature in Fortune, Slate, Politico, Foreign Policy and Bloomberg View.

Based in Kamakura, Japan, with deep international insight and a sharp journalistic lens, Blustein brings audiences stories that humanize global institutions and clarify complex systems. He dedicated King Dollar as follows: “To my grandchildren, whom I will always love unconditionally, even if they grow up to like crypto.”