No. 31 in America · Week of November 9, 2026
Economist, former Treasury secretary
Larry Summers is an economist who served as Treasury secretary and as president of Harvard.
Photo: Ralph Alswang Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0
Score breakdown
Nine parts, measured fresh each week. This is where Larry Summers's points came from, and the evidence behind each one.
Debate record
Argued against the motion that North America faced a Japan-style era of stagnation at the Munk Debates.
Summers was Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001, president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010.
He was chief economist of the World Bank in the early 1990s.
On the record
2025
July 11, 2025
Formal debate
Against Alan Dershowitz · Open to Debate
Two Harvard figures debated President Trump's actions against the university, moderated by John Donvan.
2020
October 9, 2020
Formal debateWon the audience vote
Against Robert Reich and Yanis Varoufakis · Bloomberg Television and Intelligence Squared U.S., That's Debatable
Summers and Allison Schrager argued against the motion and won, gaining 17 points in the audience vote.
2011
November 14, 2011
Formal debateWon the audience vote
Against Paul Krugman and David Rosenberg · Munk Debates, Toronto
Larry Summers argued against the motion with Ian Bremmer. The con side won the audience vote, swinging 1 percent.
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