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.