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Lawrence Summers

Economics Commentator

Lawrence H. Summers was director of the National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2011. He is currently the Charles W. Eliot University professor at Harvard University and Weil director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.

He served as 27th president of Harvard from July 2001 until June 2006 and has served in a series of senior public policy positions, including secretary of the treasury of the United States, political economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist of the World Bank.

@LHSummers  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Friday, 15 December, 2023
    Unhedged
    Larry Summers: we haven’t nailed the landing yet Premium content

    ‘If team transitory is vindicated, it will only be because their policy advice was not taken’

    Larry Summers
  • Thursday, 24 August, 2023
    Data visualisation
    Big Larry does a chart crime

    Coincidence? I think NOT

  • Thursday, 6 October, 2022
    Economists Exchange
    Larry Summers: ‘The destabilisation wrought by British errors will not be confined to Britain’

    The former US Treasury secretary delivers his verdict on a fiscal statement that sent markets spinning

    Illustration of Martin Wolf and Larry Summers
  • Tuesday, 27 September, 2022
    UK economy
    *The IMF has entered the chat*

    Larry Summers sics the Fund on the UK

  • Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
    Economic forecasting
    The NY Fed vs Larry Summers

    Prime eco beef

  • Monday, 11 April, 2022
    UnhedgedRobert Armstrong
    Recession whispers, part 2 Premium content

    And the commodities financing crunch

  • Friday, 12 November, 2021
    FT Swamp Notes
    Turns out Larry Summers was right Premium content

    The stimulus approved earlier this year was entirely unnecessary

    Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary
  • Wednesday, 22 September, 2021
    UnhedgedRobert Armstrong
    Summers and Roubini on inflation Premium content

    The bottlenecks are not going away

  • Tuesday, 18 May, 2021
    US economy
    Summers accuses Fed of ‘dangerous complacency’ over inflation

    Ex-Treasury secretary warns of risk US central bank will be forced into knee-jerk rate rise

  • Monday, 12 April, 2021
    Economists Exchange
    Larry Summers: ‘I’m concerned that what is being done is substantially excessive’

    Former treasury secretary criticises the scale of Biden’s fiscal policy and warns it could lead to overheating and wasted resources

  • Saturday, 6 February, 2021
    US politics & policy
    Democrats hit back at Summers after criticism of stimulus bill

    Obama’s ex-economic adviser warns $1.9tn package risks worst inflation in generation

  • Sunday, 17 January, 2021
    Rana Foroohar
    Wall Street’s new sheriff is on a mission

    Joe Biden’s likely choice for Securities and Exchange Commission chair will shake things up

  • Tuesday, 15 December, 2020
    Martin Wolf
    There is no stock market bubble

    The bigger question is whether rock-bottom interest rates will revert to ‘normal’ and, if so, when

    James Ferguson illustration of Martin Wolf column ‘There is no stock market bubble’
  • Sunday, 1 November, 2020
    Gavyn Davies
    The future of fiscal policy without traditional constraints

    Covid response has shown inflation and interest rates no longer dictate limits on debt

  • Thursday, 14 May, 2020
    Coronavirus
    Covid-19 looks like a hinge in history | Free to read

    The pandemic will be remembered alongside 1914 Archduke assassination and 1938 Munich Conference

    Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, the interpreter Paul-Otto Schmidt and Neville Chamberlain at the Munich Conference, September 29-30, 1938, Germany, 20th century.
  • Friday, 11 October, 2019
    Global Economy
    Global economy is at risk from a monetary policy black hole

    Governments should borrow more to stave off secular stagnation

    Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pauses while speaking ahead of the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. Georgieva, in her first major address as head of the IMF, painted a downbeat picture of the world economy and said a more severe slowdown could require governments to coordinate fiscal-stimulus measures. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
  • Monday, 7 January, 2019
    US economy
    We must prepare now for the likelihood of a recession

    Excess austerity is a bigger risk than fiscal profligacy

    An employee works on the line at the Ford Motor Co. Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. Ford Motor Co. is watching trade talks closely. With almost 40 percent of its revenue coming from outside North America and factories in Mexico and Canada, the second-largest U.S. automaker has a lot at stake in the outcomes of the Trump administration's myriad negotiations and tariff schemes. Photographer: Sean Proctor/Bloomberg
  • Monday, 3 December, 2018
    US politics & policy
    Washington may bluster but cannot stifle the Chinese economy

    Even trying to do so risks strengthening the most anti-American elements in Beijing

    U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a working dinner after the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
  • Monday, 5 November, 2018
    Federal Reserve
    Fed bashing is a fool’s game

    But there is a need for pragmatism regarding the independence of central banks

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, left, and Randal Quarles, vice chair for supervision, gather their things at the end of a Federal Reserve Board meeting to discuss proposed rules to modify the enhanced prudential standard framework for large banking organizations, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
  • Monday, 8 October, 2018
    US economy
    I discovered the rest of America on my summer holiday

    Driving across the US gave me a different perspective on the American economy

    UNITED STATES - AUGUST 20: A stretch of U.S. Highway 89 is seen near Ringling, Mont., on August 20, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
  • Monday, 10 September, 2018
    Central bank intervention
    Policymakers call for more firepower to fight recession

    Experts debate problems for central banks in era of ultra-low interest rates

    FILE - This Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017, file photo shows the Federal Reserve Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington. The Federal Reserve is likely to point to strong growth in the economy, low unemployment and rising inflation as reasons to keep on its current path of gradually raising interest rates. The Fed's statement at the end of its two-day meeting will be released Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 1, 2018, in the form of a brief policy statement. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
  • Monday, 3 September, 2018
    Global Economy
    Ending quarterly reports will not stop corporate short-termism

    Requiring less information would favour better-connected professional investors

    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. Technology shares advanced as the S&P 500 Index headed to a fifth monthly gain while investors awaited developments on trade talks. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
  • Monday, 6 August, 2018
    US trade
    Trump claims credit he is not due on the economy

    Growth has exceeded expectations outside the US rather than within it

    TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump tours US Steel's Granite City Works steel mill in Granite City, Illinois on July 26, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
  • Monday, 2 July, 2018
    Global Economy
    A jobs guarantee — progressives’ latest big idea

    But cynicism about politics means we should be wary of making promises we cannot keep

    Workers package items for shipment at the Laitram LLC facility in Harahan, Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, May 25, 2018. Although Donald Trump garnered more votes from Louisianans in 2016 than any other presidential candidate in history, his promise to put America first targets the heart of its commerce. Louisiana's reliance on trade makes it a unique microcosm of how the tariff battle will affect America. Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg
  • Monday, 4 June, 2018
    US trade
    Donald Trump’s trade policy violates every rule of strategy

    From tweet to tweet, official to official, nobody can tell what his priorities are

    WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 22: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (R) speaks before U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum aimed at what he calls Chinese economic aggression in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on March 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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