Remarks from EDIB Forum at Harvard

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Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Sherri, for giving me the opportunity to open this year’s forum. The lineup of speakers and sessions planned for today and tomorrow is superb, so I will not go on for too long, but I did want to say a few words about our community.

Over the past year or so, I have spent an extraordinary amount of time in conversation with people who are curious about what is going on at Harvard. In these conversations, I have tended to focus on what we are doing—the research and scholarship we are undertaking across the University to deepen understanding, to yield discoveries, and to drive innovation and progress in every field and discipline. Academic excellence continues to resonate with individuals across the country and around the world. Despite the great uncertainty of the present moment, the possibility of knowledge paving the way to a better future has not lost its luster.

Of course, what we are doing is possible because of who we are, and we can never lose sight of that fact. Our community spurs and speeds excellence by embracing difference in its many forms. Derek Bok, who was the University’s president when I was an undergraduate, described diversity as a critical enabler of learning. Exposure to different backgrounds, different perspectives, and different experiences leads to intellectual and personal growth. Here, we encourage the best people to learn alongside one another as they learn from one another. Everyone benefits when all are welcomed, supported, and included.

This is a truth deeply felt. Throughout my career as a physician, an academic, and a leader, I have worked with incredibly talented people whose lives were nothing like my own. I learned from them—and they from me—and the many bonds and bridges that formed among us made our work together richer and stronger than it might have been otherwise.

My hope is that all of us can have that experience—that all of us can grow in expected and unexpected ways thanks to the community we create and sustain together year after year. This gathering is an important part of that effort. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your commitment to our mission and to our community—and for your own efforts to ensure that each person at Harvard can thrive.

Summers Sees Biggest Inflation.pdf

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Five Former Treasury Secretaries: Our Democracy Is Under Siege

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New York Times — When we had the honor of being sworn in as the 70th, 71st, 75th, 76th and 78th secretaries of the Treasury, we took an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution.

Our roles were multifaceted. We sought to develop sound policy to advance the president’s agenda and represent the economic interests of the United States on the world stage. But in doing that, we recognized that our most fundamental responsibility was the faithful execution of the laws and Constitution of the United States.

We were fortunate that during our tenures in office no effort was made to unlawfully undermine the nation’s financial commitments. Regrettably, recent reporting gives substantial cause for concern that such efforts are underway today. READ MORE

MSNBC ‘Strategy of being a bully’: Trump’s tariffs will ‘backfire’

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MSNBC — Larry Summers, Former U.S. Treasury Secretary, joins Andrea Mitchell to analyze President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. Summers highlights the grave impacts these tariffs will have on the American consumer and families. READ MORE

Trump’s tariffs are a bully strategy

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Trump’s tariffs are a bully strategy, my conversation with Manu Raju on CNN’s Inside Politics

Politico Morning Money: Will Trump fall into the transitory trap?

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POLITICO Morning Money — “Unrealistic macroeconomic cheerleading usually backfires because it’s associated with bad policy and because it undermines credibility,” former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told MM. “This administration, given the self-inflicted supply shocks to the economy it is implementing, very much has that risk. Its inflationary errors are at risk of exceeding those of the Biden administration.”  READ MORE

Larry Summers on Trump Tariffs, CNN

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My interview on February 1, 2025 with Jessica Dean of CNN on how Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada defy economic logic.

The Settlement Is a Start — But Only a Start — To Restoring Harvard.

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The Harvard Crimson — Harvard’s settlement last week of two lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination surely does not represent the end of overdue efforts by the University to combat antisemitism. To amend Winston Churchill at a key juncture during World War II, it does not even represent the beginning of the end of the University’s efforts to right the ship after the failures of the last academic year. But it may — if our leaders act with boldness — be seen as the end of the beginning of the University’s restoration.  READ MORE

NEJM AI Grand Rounds podcast: The Economics of AI

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Martin Wolf interviews Larry Summers — Is Trump a threat to the US economy?

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FT — Hello and welcome to The Economic Show. I’m Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator in London. While our regular host, Soumaya Keynes, is on maternity leave you’ll be hearing a lot more from me over the coming weeks. Today, I have the pleasure of talking to someone who has uniquely been a hugely distinguished academic, a top official, and a highly influential voice on global economic affairs. He’s also somebody I’ve known since the mid-1990s when he joined the US Treasury.

I’m talking, of course, about the former United States Treasury secretary and president of Harvard University, Larry Summers. His signal characteristics are his originality and moral and intellectual courage. This combination is why he has sometimes upset people. It is also why he’s so influential. Larry, welcome to the show.  READ FULL TRANSCRIPT