Summers Addresses KSG Forum

Former University President Lawrence H. Summers welcomed 39 young professionals to an international leadership conference last night with wide-ranging remarks that touched on the sub-prime mortgage crisis, global warming, and economic growth in East Asia.

The 10-day session brings to the Kennedy School of Government a selection of executives, journalists, and public officials from the Young Global Leaders Forum, a program that identifies promising leaders under 40.

At the dinner panel discussion last night, moderated by Kennedy School professor and program co-chair David R. Gergen, Summers repeatedly criticized the current Bush administration and said he was pessimistic about the world economy, at least in the short run.

He said new lending activity is decreasing in the aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and added that he sensed “policy paralysis” in the White House.

“Nobody’s home, nobody’s doing much,” he said.

Recalling the 1990s as a time of prosperity, Summers lamented the decline of the United States’ international reputation, both economically and politically.

“This unique American moment has to a very to a very significant extent been squandered over the past eight years,” he said. “We’ve lost a sense of competence and skill in execution.”

Describing the forces behind a changing world order, Summers cited the Bush administration’s unilateral foreign policy, the current U.S. economic slowdown, and the rising economic tide in Asia.

Summers reminded his audience that rapid economic growth is a relatively new phenomenon—living standards in England two centuries ago were little higher those in ancient Greece.

If China maintains its current 7 percent growth rate, he continued, incomes there could increase by a factor of 128 within a 70-year lifetime.

Prompted by Gergen, Summers offered leadership advice alongside his policy prognosis, saying he did not foresee his own career path, which included a stint as Treasury secretary. He hesitated, however, to offer himself as a model.

“I suspect some of you would look at me and would see both some positive and some negative examples,” he said.

The organizers of the conference, entitled “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century,” said it was the first event of its kind for both the Kennedy School and the Global Leaders Forum, which is a partner of the World Economic Forum.

Kennedy School professor Joseph S. Nye, who is one of the program’s three co-chairs and also serves on the Board of Directors of the Young Global Leaders Foundation Board, said both institutions would benefit from the gathering.

“The feeling was that there was a good match here,” he said.

—Staff Writer David Hausman can be reached at dhausman@fas.harvard.edu.