Ideas Rule the World, not Kings or Corporations
Lawrence Summers, economist, professor, former president of Harvard University, and economic adviser to President Obama, asks this question in a thought provoking lecture about the evolution of ideas and the critical importance of education in an increasingly multi-faceted world.
08 April, 2015
Videos
How many people remember who ruled England when Chaucer wrote or when Milton wrote or when Shakespeare wrote or even when Dickens wrote? Lawrence Summers makes the compelling case that history is shaped by ideas and the spread of knowledge rather than empire and conquest. Every innovative policy, maverick action, and upset of the status quo is rooted in an idea, a small pebble that starts a wave that eventually reaches all shores.
Making Complex Decisions: A Masterclass with Lawrence Summers
Lawrence H. Summers leads a six-part workshop on employing rational, data-driven thinking to make complex decisions.
26 January, 2015
Politics & Current Affairs
Lawrence H. Summers's six-part Masterclass on Making Complex Decisions is available on Big Think Edge.
Larry Summers: We Need to Invest in Infrastructure
Interest rates are low. Construction unemployment is high. There's no better time to invest in major infrastructure projects. Larry Summers asks what we're waiting for.
15 December, 2014
Technology & Innovation
Interest rates are low. Construction unemployment is high. There's no better time than now to invest in major infrastructure projects. Economist Larry Summers asks what we're waiting for.
Larry Summers: Oil Prices Should Stay Down
The acclaimed economist talks oil prices, energy independence, and America's unavoidable market vulnerability.
09 December, 2014
Politics & Current Affairs
The acclaimed economist talks oil prices, energy independence, and America's unavoidable market vulnerability. Even though the United States is reeling in its reliance on foreign sources of oil, Summers says its link to the oil markets of Europe and Japan means an innate state of vulnerability.
Lawrence H. Summers
Lawrence H. Summers is an American economist. He is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University, where he became one of the university's youngest tenured faculty at age 28.
The author of over 150 journal articles, Dr. Summers' wide-ranging contributions to economic research were recognized with the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40. He was also the first social scientist to receive the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award for outstanding scientific achievement.
Beyond his academic career, Dr. Summers has held a number of distinguished appointments in government. He previously served as Director of the National Economic Council for the Obama Administration, Secretary of the Treasury for the Clinton Administration, and Chief Economist of the World Bank.
Lawrence Summers received his S.B. from MIT and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He and his wife Elisa New, a professor of English at Harvard, have six children.
