Skip to main content
Access provided by

Lawrence H. Summers

Lawrence H. Summers

15 commentaries
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.

Sort by: Show:
  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.

  1. frankel165_CHRISTINE OLSSONTTTT NEWS AGENCYAFP via Getty Images_nobelwinners Christine Olsson/News Agency/AFP via Getty Images
    0

    What Causes Prosperity?

    Jeffrey Frankel shows how this year's Nobel Prize-winning economists tackled a once-insoluble problem.
  2. ignatieff7_nocopyright
    0

    Ukraine’s Post-Colonial Future

    Michael Ignatieff believes that what is at stake in the war with Russia is the fate of the last European imperialism.
  3. obstfeld6_Anthony KwanGetty Images_tariffs Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
    0

    Donald Trump’s Tariffs Would Hurt US Workers and Businesses

    Maurice Obstfeld shows why targeting an overall reduction in imports would reduce America’s real wages and national income.
  4. kenewendo6_ LUIS TATOAFP via Getty Images_green energy africa LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
    0

    Africa’s Green Future Starts with Debt Relief

    Bogolo Kenewendo & Patrick Njoroge propose large-scale relief to ensure that the continent’s countries can invest in climate action.
  5. james159_getty images-inflation Getty Images
    0

    Diane Coyle on economic progress, tech monopolies, artificial intelligence, and more

    Diane Coyle advocates a new public philosophy that rejects viewing “government” and “market” as opposites, explains why time-use data must shape technological development, warns that policymakers are devising AI regulation in a thick conceptual fog, and more.
  6. banga4_PATRICK FORTAFP via Getty Images_rainforest PATRICK FORT/AFP via Getty Images)
    0

    A New Paradigm for Standing Forests

    Ajay Banga, et al.

    While forest carbon markets have created new revenue streams, they usually reward only those countries, communities, or project developers who are focused on reducing their emissions from deforestation. Something more is needed to tie financial rewards to forests that aren’t under immediate threat.

     present a new mechanism to generate financial returns for countries that prevent deforestation.
  7. woods59_ Brandon BellGetty Images_labor Brandon Bell/Getty Images
    0

    Working-Class Antiheroes

    Ngaire Woods advocates using domestic labor legislation that supports unionization – not tariffs – to protect workers.
  8. op_brown2_TIERNEY CROSSAFP via Getty Images_IMFworldbank Tierney Cross/AFP via Getty Images
    1

    Toward a Fifth World Order

    Gordon Brown & Mohamed A. El-Erian

    Historically, massive revisions to the international system have come about only after a complete breakdown of the previous order. With today's global institutions sorely in need of reform, can the transition to a new order be achieved without incurring the costs and pain that such a breakdown would entail?

     explain why multilateral institutions urgently need to be reformed, and why the G20 is the right forum for it.
  9. kruger76_Justin SullivanGetty Images_shipping Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
    0

    US Tariffs Will Not Bring Back Jobs from China

    Michael R. Strain decries both parties’ reluctance to prepare Americans for the employment opportunities of today and tomorrow.

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification

To receive email updates regarding this {entity_type}, please enter your email below.

If you are not already registered, this will create a PS account for you. You should receive an activation email shortly.