Too bad for Harvard!

Too bad for Harvard! Too bad for the elite university system in this country -- which appears to be the last bastion of insider resistance to reform. We at CGD note with regret the resignation of Lawrence Summers, a CGD Board member, from the presidency of Harvard University. I and several colleagues here worked closely with Larry at the World Bank and/or at the U.S. Treasury, where he brought inspiration, a commitment to policy dialogue, and eagerness to listen and build on varying views. When I worked for Larry at the World Bank, I found him to be an inspiring and thoughtful manager in every respect. My sense is that this is also true of others who worked for him here in Washington. Apparently some Harvard faculty are very thin-skinned compared to Washington bureaucrats!To the development community, Larry continues to bring a tremendous breadth of scholarship and vision. At Harvard he was expanding the international agenda, and paying a lot of attention (unusual for a university president, though not for a former World Bank Chief Economist and Secretary of Treasury) to globalization and development. He recently appointed a superb new director for Harvard’s Center for International Development, Ricardo Hausmann. A former colleague of mine and of Larry's, Ricardo was the first Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). He is currently a professor at Harvard and a CGD Non-Resident Fellow and is sure to bring new energy to the CID.Larry generously agreed to speak at the first CGD Richard Sabot Memorial Lecture, on June 13, in memory of our common friend and former CGD board member. I look forward eagerly to hearing what he will have to say.