Economic Advice Marks Summers’ Japan Trip

University President Lawrence H. Summers returned last week from a trip to Japan, during which he offered economic advice while again outlining his broad goals for the University.

The trip was Summers’ first visit abroad since he became president last July.

Summers addressed diverse groups, ranging from alumni to top government officials.

Summers found himself in a familiar role as he offered his perspective on the struggling Japanese economy. As the Clinton administration’s point-person on the Asian financial crisis, Summers had often traveled to Japan.

Last week, Summers discussed Japan’s prospects for economic recovery with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Additionally, he met with Japanese economists and former Harvard doctoral students to debate policy options. And in a question and answer session after an address to the Harvard Club of Japan, Summers was peppered with requests for his economic forecast.

Summers called for coordinated policies of structural reform coupled with “reflation” to strengthen the Yen.

In his speech at the Harvard Club, Summers’ explained many of his plans for the University, placing his oft-repeated priorities in the context of their international importance.

The topic for his Harvard club speech was “the role of universities in the new global economy.”

Summers said his emphasis on the College, contact between students and faculty, study abroad and interdisciplinary study are dictated by the needs of the global community.

Traditional values embodied by university culture—such as open intellectual discourse, meritocracy and diversity—will “increasingly be a model for other organizations in our society,” Summers said.

Summers spoke more philosophically in outlining the need for universities such as Harvard to act when the global market economy falls short.

“Universities will have to concentrate...on doing those things in our society that markets will not,” Summers said, citing universities’ support for underfunded medical research as an example.

Summers also mentioned what is becoming an increasingly prevalent theme in his speeches—his vision for Boston as a new Silicon Valley for biomedical research. Summers said he sees Harvard as the driving force behind this development, mirroring the role Stanford played in the California boom.

More timely concerns also surfaced when one alum asked Summers for his perspective on the recent spat between Summers and members of the Afro-American studies department, which was sparked by a confrontation between Summers and Fletcher University Professor Cornel West ’74.

Summers answered the question by underlining the University’s commitment to diversity and academic freedom, while also asserting his own duty to question professors on their activities.

“It seems to me there is no more important task for University leadership...than asking of every member of the University community their maximum contribution to the University’s intellectual environment,” Summers said.

Summers spent a little over two days in Japan, arriving Jan. 27 and returning to Cambridge Jan. 29.

In addition to the sessions with Prime Minister Koizumi and former and current finance ministers, Summers met with members of the Japanese royal family, including Crown Princess Masako ’85. Summers gave Masako, who trained under Summers’ colleague, Harvard economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, a baby-sized Harvard tee-shirt for her newborn baby.

Other stops for Summers included a 5 a.m. visit to the world’s largest sushi market. Summers’ interest in the market had been piqued by Anthropology Professor Theodore Bestor’s work on the global sushi economy.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.