Peter L. Berger
American sociologist
Lawrence Summers
American economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
Lawrence Summers is an American economist who has held several high-profile positions, including serving as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and president of Harvard University. He has played a significant role in economic policymaking and has been involved in notable events like the 1994 Mexican financial crisis and the deregulation of the U.S. financial system.
Table of Contents
About the Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summersis an American economist who served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006, where he is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. In November 2023, Summers joined the board of directors of artificial general intelligence company OpenAI.
Summers became a professor of economics at Harvard University in 1983. He left Harvard in 1991, working as the Chief Economist of the World Bank from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, Summers was appointed Under Secretary for International Affairs of the United States Department of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton’s administration. In 1995, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under his long-time political mentor Robert Rubin. In 1999, he succeeded Rubin as Secretary of the Treasury. While working for the Clinton administration, Summers played a leading role in the American response to the 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the Russian financial crisis. He was also influential in the Harvard Institute for International Development and American-advised privatization of the economies of the post-Soviet states, and in the deregulation of the U.S financial system, including the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.
Following the end of Clinton’s term, Summers served as the 27th president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. Summers resigned as Harvard’s president in the wake of a no-confidence vote by Harvard faculty, which resulted in large part from Summers’s conflict with Cornel West, financial conflict of interest questions regarding his relationship with Andrei Shleifer, and a 2005 speech in which he offered three reasons for the under-representation of women in science and engineering, including the possibility that there exists a “different availability of aptitude at the high end”, in addition to patterns of discrimination and socialization.
After his departure from Harvard, Summers worked as a managing partner at the hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. Summers rejoined public service during the Obama administration, serving as the Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama from January 2009 until November 2010, where he emerged as a key economic decision-maker in the Obama administration’s response to the Great Recession.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lawrence Summers is an American economist who served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010.
Lawrence Summers has held several high-profile positions, including serving as the president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and working as the Chief Economist of the World Bank from 1991 to 1993.
While working for the Clinton administration, Lawrence Summers played a leading role in the American response to the 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the Russian financial crisis.
Lawrence Summers resigned as Harvard’s president in the wake of a no-confidence vote by Harvard faculty, which resulted in large part from Summers’s conflict with Cornel West, financial conflict of interest questions, and a controversial 2005 speech.
During the Obama administration, Lawrence Summers rejoined public service, serving as the Director of the White House United States National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010, where he emerged as a key economic decision-maker.
In November 2023, Lawrence Summers joined the board of directors of artificial general intelligence company OpenAI.
Lawrence Summers became a professor of economics at Harvard University in 1983 and later worked as the Chief Economist of the World Bank from 1991 to 1993 before holding various positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations.
9 Quotes by Lawrence Summers
- 1.
I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to it.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 2.
In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 3.
I’ve always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 4.
But ultimately what I was impressed by during my years in government was how much the intellectual climate and the prevailing intellectual notions constrained and represented the universe within which the discourse took place.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 5.
The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 6.
Contagion has become very much a phenomenon, and it’s a phenomenon of globalization.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 7.
There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 8.
If you look at the history of the American capital market, there’s probably no innovation more important than the idea of generally accepted accountancy principles.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official
- 9.
It certainly was difficult to sell NAFTA because it’s always difficult to sell open markets.
Lawrence SummersAmerican economist, Secretary of the Treasury, college administrator, and U.S. government official