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Lawrence H. Summers

Lawrence H. Summers

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1 videos & podcasts

Lawrence H. Summers was US Secretary of the Treasury (1999-2001), Chief Economist of the World Bank (1991-93), Director of the US National Economic Council (2009-10), and President of Harvard University (2001-06), where he is currently University Professor.

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  1. The World Is Still on Fire
    summers14_TONY KARUMBAAFP via Getty Images_sudanfamine Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images

    The World Is Still on Fire

    Apr 15, 2024 Lawrence H. Summers & N.K. Singh think policymakers need to get four things right to shore up the credibility of the international system.

  2. The Multilateral Development Banks the World Needs
    summers13_Natali_MisGetty Images_worldconnections Natali_Mis/Getty Images

    The Multilateral Development Banks the World Needs

    Jul 24, 2023 Lawrence H. Summers & N.K. Singh offer a plan to ensure that these key institutions prove equal to challenges of the twenty-first century.

  3. A New Chance for the World Bank
    summers12_ STEFANI REYNOLDSAFP via Getty Images)_world bank ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images

    A New Chance for the World Bank

    Oct 10, 2022 Lawrence H. Summers calls for reforms focused on crisis response, post-conflict reconstruction, and the green transition.

  4. Debt Relief Is the Most Effective Pandemic Aid
    brown64_NICHOLAS KAMMAFP via Getty Images_georgievamalpassworldbankIMF Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

    Debt Relief Is the Most Effective Pandemic Aid

    Apr 15, 2020 Gordon Brown & Lawrence H. Summers call for a two-year moratorium on payments for every emerging and developing economy that needs help.

  5. Can a Political-Economy Vicious Circle Be Avoided?
    summers10 Getty Images

    Can a Political-Economy Vicious Circle Be Avoided?

    Dec 26, 2019 Lawrence H. Summers sees the US presidential election in November as the year's most important decision worldwide.

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    Kishore Mahbubani on the US-China rivalry, Asian security risks, and more

    Kishore Mahbubani offers advice to Western diplomats attempting to engage with Asia, identifies risks to the region’s stability, highlights Singapore’s lessons for developing-country leaders, and more.
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    Tracking Air Quality the Right Way

    Soumya Swaminathan & Christa Hasenkopf call for an authoritative global accounting of the world’s single greatest external risk to human health.
  3. buchholz19_Tayfun CoskunAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_aukus Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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    Countries That March Together Should Trade Together

    Todd G. Buchholz urges the next US president to distinguish good from bad actors, rather than raise tariffs haphazardly.
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    Resetting US-China Economic Relations

    Barry Eichengreen

    The implications of the deepening Sino-American rift are far-reaching, because several of the world’s most pressing economic problems can be solved only with contributions from both countries. And, to address global challenges, active cooperation between the two economic powers is indispensable.

     hopes that political will on both sides catches up with the opporunities for cooperation that now exist.
  5. gros189_Sean GallupGetty Images_germanypowerlines Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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    The Improving Economics and Worsening Geopolitics of Clean Energy

    Daniel Gros warns that political obstacles are preventing the widespread uptake of low-cost green technologies.
  6. rajan94_Arvind YadavHindustan Times via Getty Images_indiasemiconductor Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
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    Industrial Policy’s Deceptive New Clothes

    Raghuram G. Rajan

    If the new "industrial strategy" is offering ideas for better public governance, it is useful. But it becomes positively dangerous when it turns to the private sector, where state interventions inevitably undermine competition, disrupt price signals, and dampen the motivation to innovate.

     sees little reason to support the case for renewed government interventions in the private sector.
  7. frankel128_ plus49Construction PhotographyAvalonGetty Images_emissions plus49Construction PhotographyAvalonGetty Images
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    A New Trilemma Haunts the World Economy

    Dani Rodrik weighs the trade-offs between combating climate change, global poverty, and rich countries’ middle-class decline.
  8. hamada66_ Mario TamaGetty Images Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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    The Choice Confronting American Voters

    Koichi Hamada warns that electing a president who refuses to accept defeat could jeopardize not only US democracy.
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    Climate Security and Geopolitics

    Ian Bremmer

    Although multilateral efforts to address climate change are not well served by deepening geopolitical rivalries or the apparent trend toward global economic fragmentation, that doesn’t mean governments have abandoned the pursuit of net-zero emissions. Instead, the process has become more competitive – and more complex.

     considers the international political dynamics of current energy, trade, and environmental policies.

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