Location: Doerr-Hosier, McNulty Room
Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, Elliot Gerson
Bio
Elliot Gerson
Elliot Gerson is an executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, responsible for Policy and Public Programs and relations with international partners. The Institute’s policy programs focus on important domestic and international issues and improve decision-making by providing neutral venues, nonpartisan analysis, and candid dialogue among leaders. The Institute’s public programs—including the Aspen Ideas Festival—open the Institute’s doors to a broader audience. The Institute also has international partners in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Prague, Romania, and Spain. Gerson is the American secretary of the Rhodes Trust and manages the US Rhodes Scholarships. Previously, Gerson was a US Supreme Court clerk, practiced law, held executive positions in state and federal government and on a presidential campaign, and was president of leading insurance and health care companies.
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence H. Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, where he is also president emeritus. During the past two decades, he has served in a series of senior policy positions, including vice president of development economics and chief economist of the World Bank, undersecretary of the US Treasury for international affairs, director of the National Economic Council for the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011, and secretary of the US Treasury from 1999 to 2001. He is the recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40, and the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award for outstanding scientific achievement. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Larry Summers, former director of the White House United States National Economic Council under President Obama, believes that inequality isn't necessarily a negative byproduct of capitalism. Summers argues that we should judge the source of the inequality, because wealthy innovators like Steve Jobs have contributed greatly to society.