Lawrence H. Summers, who has played a leading role in President Obama’s economic policies for nearly two years as director of the National Economic Council, is returning to Harvard, the White House announced this afternoon. Mr. Summers, one of the youngest professors ever to win tenure at Harvard, shook up the university as its president but then stepped down in 2006 after antagonizing some parts of the faculty with his leadership style and, in particular, his comments about women’s intrinsic abilities in the sciences. In a statement quoted by the White House, Mr. Summers said he looked forward to “returning to Harvard to teach and write about the economic fundamentals of job creation and stable finance as well as the integration of rising and developing countries into the global system.”
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6 Responses to Lawrence Summers Will Leave White House Post and Return to Harvard
fergbutt - September 21, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Mission accomplished. Obama supporters will claim (a) it’s all Bush’s fault and (b) things would have gotten worse without the steps taken by Summers et al. I find it odd that many academics put up with such claims that are devoid of falsifiability.
a_voice - September 22, 2010 at 8:17 am
It must feel bad to go write about something one could have made a big difference in, but failed to do so for whatever reason.
physicsprof - September 22, 2010 at 9:59 am
The great recession and preceeding it the widest possible spectrum of economic predictions (rarely having any resemblance of the eventual events) made me wonder: are economics professors even qualified about their subject? Or it is all voo-doo, and some of them professors inevitably get their predictions right for the same reason that out of 10 shamans a couple would surely predict rain or sun on a particular day correctly simply from the law of averages.
hawkeye515 - September 22, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Well, it wasn’t all Bush’s fault. Phil Gramm and Dick Armey, two former economics professors, helped too.
jaysanderson - September 23, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Take all of the current administration away and let them teach at Harvard–please.
bpittinsky - September 23, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Can the ” old Adage” that those who can’t do teach be true in the case of economics professors.At least Summers tried when compared to the group that declared the recession ended about a year ago.