Lawrence H. Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University
Chapter Member: Boston SSN
Areas of Expertise:
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About Lawrence
Summers’ research has made important contributions to many areas of economics, including public finance, labor economics, financial economics, macroeconomics, global economics, economic demography, economic history and development economics as well as global health and education. During the past two decades, Summers has served in a series of senior policy positions in Washington, DC, including the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama and Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank. In his speeches, regular newspaper columns, and public commentary, Summers continues to move forward the debate on national and global economic policy.
Contributions
Why Now is the Right Time for a U.S. Carbon Tax
Basic Facts Brief,
In the News
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on what will be the consequences of the pandemic, and what will a post-COVID world order look like?, " "COVID-19 and World Order: The Future of Conflict, Competition, and Cooperation" Business Insider, September 10, 2020.
"We No Longer Share a Common Lived Experience," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, October 9, 2019.
"The United States of Lots of Different Americas," Lawrence H. Summers, Washington Post, October 9, 2018.
"Trump Hasn’t Prepared Us for The Inevitable economic Slowdown," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, August 6, 2018.
"Jobs for All? Take the Idea Seriously but Not Literally.," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, July 2, 2018.
"Trump's Trade Policy Violates Almost Every Strategic Rule," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, June 4, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted by Eduardo Porter, "When All Else Fails, Tax Incentives Probably Will, Too" The New York Times, May 8, 2018.
"The Economy Seems Great, but Secular Stagnation Still Lurks," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, May 7, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on global optimism by Kerry Boyd Anderson, "Peer through the Gloom and There are Reasons for Global Optimism" Arab News, April 30, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on bank stress tests by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, "Larry Summers Just Obliterated the Fed's Bank Stress Tests with a Single Sentence" Business Insider, April 23, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on taxing unhealthy products by Laura Joszt, "Reports Highlight Impact of Taxing Unhealthy Products to Combat Chronic Diseases Worldwide" The American Journal of Managed Care, April 11, 2018.
"Four Reasons Chinese Officials aren't Buying Trump's Trade Threats," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, April 9, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted by Kemal Dervi, "Have We Dodged the Secular-Stagnation Bullet?" The New Times, March 7, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers's research on , "Have We Dodged the Secular Stagnation Bullet?," The Brookings Institution, March 6, 2018.
"The Dollar is Getting Weaker. That Should Worry Us," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, March 5, 2018.
"No, ‘Obamasclerosis’ Wasn’t a Real Problem for the Economy," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, February 28, 2018.
"Wells Fargo's Board Members are Getting off Too Easy," Lawrence H. Summers, Washington Post, February 6, 2018.
"Former New York Fed President Bill McDonough, in Memoriam," Lawrence H. Summers, Washington Post, January 29, 2018.
"In Davos Dollar Comments, Mnuchin Fails on Style and Substance," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, January 25, 2018.
"Trump Doesn't Deserve Credit for All the Economic Good News," Lawrence H. Summers, Washington Post, January 21, 2018.
"If We Want to Improve Global Health, We Need to Tax the Things That are Killing Us," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, January 18, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted by Ben Casselman, "In a Tight Labor Market, Even Inmates are Landing Jobs" New York Times, January 13, 2018.
Lawrence H. Summers's research on , "As Labor Pool Shrinks, Prison Time is Less of a Hiring Hurdle," New York Times, January 13, 2018.
"One Last Time on Who Benefits from Corporate Tax Cuts," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, October 22, 2017.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted by Ben Casselman, "Why Some Scars from the Recession May Never Vanish" New York Times, October 5, 2017.
"The Cassidy-Graham Vote is a Chance for a Republic to be a Hero," Lawrence H. Summers, Wonkblog, The Washington Post, September 22, 2017.
"It’s Time to Balance the Power between Workers and Employers," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, September 3, 2017.
"Summers to CEOs: If You Won't Quit Trump's Advisory Councils Now, then When?," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, August 15, 2017.
"This is the One Climate Solution That’s Best for the Environment — and for Business," Lawrence H. Summers (with ), The Washington Post, June 19, 2017.
"The Stock Market Has Boomed under Trump. What Happens Next Might Scare You.," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, January 29, 2017.
"Congress is Considering an Extremely Dangerous Idea Almost Nobody Has Heard Of," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, January 18, 2017.
"Trump's Tax Plans Favour the Rich and Will Hamper Economic Growth," Lawrence H. Summers, Financial Times, December 4, 2016.
"‘Political Correctness’ Has Become a Codeword for Hate," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, November 17, 2016.
"The Decline of the Middle Class is Causing Even More Economic Damage than We Realized," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, September 29, 2016.
"What We Need to Do to Get out of This Economic Malaise," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, August 18, 2016.
"What’s Crucial to Know the Morning after Brexit," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, June 24, 2016.
"The Fed is Making the Same Mistakes over and over Again," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, June 14, 2016.
"What You Need to Know about the Next Recession (Starring Donald Trump)," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, May 24, 2016.
"Global Trade Should be Remade from the Bottom Up," Lawrence H. Summers, Financial Times, April 10, 2016.
"Data Collection is the Ultimate Public Good," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, April 4, 2016.
"Colleges Have Become Hypersensitive to Racial Prejudice. Why Not Anti-Semitism?," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, March 31, 2016.
"Corporate Profits are Near Record Highs. Here’s Why That’s a Problem.," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, March 30, 2016.
"Donald Trump is a Threat to American Democracy," Lawrence H. Summers, Chicago Tribune, March 1, 2016.
"In Defense of Killing the $100 Bill," Lawrence H. Summers (with ), The Washington Post, February 25, 2016.
Guest to discuss political correctness and our universities on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Lawrence H. Summers, January 17, 2016.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on preventing global epidemics by Dionne Searcey, Nick Cumming-Bruce, and Clair MacDougall, "Deadliest Ebola Outbreak on Record is Over, W.H.O. Says" New York Times, January 14, 2016.
"The Fed’s Mistakes are a Cause for Pessimism," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, December 22, 2015.
"We Might be Facing a World of High Volatility, Risk Taking, Excessive Leverage and Frequent Accidents," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, December 14, 2015.
"Central Bankers Do Not Have as Many Tools as They Think," Lawrence H. Summers, Financial Times, December 6, 2015.
"This $13 Trillion Question is More Important than Ever," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, November 10, 2015.
"Uniting behind the Divisive ‘Cadillac’ Tax on Health Plans," Lawrence H. Summers (with ), New York Times, October 24, 2015.
"Fixing America’s Roads Would Essentially Pay for Itself," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, October 13, 2015.
"The Importance of Global Health Investment," Lawrence H. Summers, Boston Globe, September 24, 2015.
"Stronger Unions Must be Part of the National Agenda," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, September 11, 2015.
"Why the Fed Must Stand Still on Rates," Lawrence H. Summers, The Washington Post, September 9, 2015.
"The World's New Health Goal Will Need Game-Changing Health Technologies," Lawrence H. Summers (with ), Huffington Post, September 3, 2015.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on the potential to harvest more and better economic data more quickly to better shape policy decisions. by Michael J. de la Merced, "Lawrence Summers to Join Board of ‘Hyperdata’ Start-Up" New York Times, July 15, 2015.
Guest to discuss American leadership in the new economic era on Boom Bust, Lawrence H. Summers, April 7, 2015.
"Time U.S. Leadership Woke Up to New Economic Era," Lawrence H. Summers, Financial Times, April 5, 2015.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on the limits of education as an inequality-fighter by Neil Irwin, "Why More Education Won’t Fix Economic Inequality" New York Times, March 31, 2015.
Lawrence H. Summers quoted on free market capitalsim by Thomas B. Edsall, "Establishment Populism Rising" New York Times, March 4, 2015.
Lawrence H. Summers's research on international wage stagnation discussed by , "Trying to Solve the Great Wage Slowdown," New York Times, January 15, 2015.
Lawrence H. Summers's research on China’s economic growth discussed by "Even Dragons Tire," The Economist, October 25, 2014.
Lawrence H. Summers's research on Europe’s economy discussed by , "Divisions Grow as a Downturn Rocks Europe," New York Times, August 29, 2014.
"The Economy Hasn't Grown Rapidly ‘in a Financially Sustainable Way’ for a Long Time," Lawrence H. Summers, Interview with Danny Vinik, New Republic, July 23, 2014.
Regular contributions by Lawrence H. Summers to Financial Times.
Publications
"Fiscal Policy and Full Employment," (with ), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2014.
Outlines and discusses the policy implications of three economic concepts: Keynes’s view that the liquidity trap, or zero bound on short-term nominal interest rates, can sharply limit the efficacy of monetary stabilization policy; President Kennedy’s “Economics 101” view of the desirability of fiscal stimulus during a slump; and the possibility that a prolonged episode of weak demand and high unemployment in an economy may have destructive consequences for aggregate supply.
"Asiaphoria Meets Regression to the Mean," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 20573, October 2014.
Discusses consensus forecasts for the global economy that predict, over the medium and long term, the world's economic gravity will substantially shift towards Asia and especially towards the Asian Giants, China and India. This analysis suggests that forecasters and planners looking at China would do well to contemplate a much wider range of outcomes than are typically considered.
"Lower Equilibrium Real Rates, Financial Crisis, and Secular Stagnation," in Across the Great Divide: New Perspectives on the Financial Crisis, edited by Martin Neil Baily and John B. Taylor (Hoover Institution Press, 2014).
Discusses the secular stagnation hypothesis, arguing that the structure of the current economy is not capable of achieving satisfactory growth and stable financial simultaneously.
"U.S. Economic Prospects: Secular Stagnation, Hysteresis, and the Zero Lower Bound" Business Economics 49 (2014): 65-73.
Discusses how the nature of macroeconomics has changed dramatically in the last seven years. Argues that now, instead of being concerned with minor adjustments to stabilize about a given trend, concern is focused on avoiding secular stagnation. Analyzes macroeconomic problems and proposes solutions to put the U.S. economy back on a path toward healthy growth.
North America's Lost Decade?: The Munk Debate on the Economy (with ) (House of Anansi, 2012).
Debates the future of the North American economy. Discusses whether individual entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, and governments can create a new era of sustained economic growth. Examines whether the ongoing financial crisis, political dysfunction in the United States, and the rise of emerging nations erode living standards in North America for the long term.
"Fiscal Policy in a Depressed Economy" (with ). Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2012): 233-297.
Examines fiscal policy in the context of an economy suffering from protracted high unemployment and output short of potential. Argues that although the conventional wisdom articulated by John Taylor (2000) rejecting discretionary fiscal policy is appropriate in normal times, such policy has a major role to play in a severe downturn in the aftermath of a financial crisis that carries interest rates down to the zero nominal lower bound.