Checking Out, Cashing In
The news that Larry Summers is joining the hedge fund, the D.E. Shaw Group, as a part-time managing partner has provoked a vigorous debate in the comments section below. Among the questions asked: Is this an appropriate role for a former Harvard president? Why shouldn't Larry go for the big bucks? Is this blogger personally obsessed with Summers, or just fascinated by the issues the man seems to raise by the choices he makes, the trends he represents, and the example he sets?
In any case, the hedge fund news has gotten quite a bit of pick-up in papers around the country, but most of them don't say much beyond the bare facts.
Marcella Bombardieri in the Globe goes a bit further, getting economist Edward Glaeser to talk a bit about Summers' intentions.
``He's so devoted to his teaching, I would be very surprised if he did anything more than dabble" in the financial markets, said economics professor Edward Glaeser, who added that Summers spent 15 minutes last week brainstorming with him about an undergraduate's thesis.
Here's the thing: Though I have faulted Larry Summers for many things, all the evidence seems to suggest that he does indeed care about teaching and he does enjoy teaching; Larry likes a good argument, and to the extent that leading a seminar can provide that, I have no doubt he thinks this is a good thing. I'd bet he's a much more engaging seminar leader than he is a lecturer.
But does Edward Glaeser really think it is so remarkable that a fellow economist would spend 15 minutes talking about an undergraduate thesis?
Also, I wonder if the good folks at the D.E. Shaw Group are excited to know that Summers will do no more than "dabble" in the markets?
And a final point: Bombardieri, unlike most of the reporters who covered this news, actually goes to the trouble of trying to get a comment from Summers, who declines to say anything.
We have gotten so used to Summers not speaking to the press that it is easy to take this for granted and not ponder it. But it does raise the question, Why not? Why not say something to the Globe on the occasion of a new adventure in life?
After all, surely part of the reason to announce Summers' hiring is to attract interest in the firm and develop new clients. I'm sure D.E. Shaw wouldn't object to Larry giving a nice quote to the Globe in which he says something complimentary about the company and why he chose them over other opportunities.
Did his new employer want Summers to give a comment, and he refused? Or would they just as soon he not speak to the press, to avoid saying something that might get him/them in trouble?
Here's an issue that some reporter ought to take a look at: People in the academic world were upset when the president of Harvard said that women were less genetically equipped at math than men are. How do men and women in the financial world feel about that issue? The Summers' hiring would make an interesting jumping-off point for such a piece....
The larger point is that there's an attempt to control this news, whether by the Shaw Group or Summers himself...as was consistent with Summers' media style at Harvard.
