January 10, 2003

Half a Million Reasons to Leave Harvard; Support for Sex-Bias Suit Against Columbia

By ROBIN WILSON and PIPER FOGG

BIG APPLE BOUND? Less than a year after losing the star economist Jeffrey D. Sachs to Columbia University, Harvard University may be on the verge of saying goodbye to another top economist. While Columbia is paying a reported $300,000 for Mr. Sachs, the business school at New York University is trying to lure Andrei Shleifer with an offer of nearly $500,000.

David K. Backus, vice dean of NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, confirms that the school is trying to recruit Mr.