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Is this the same Larry Summers that lost a billion dollars for no reason by forcing the Harvard endowment into a bunch of shitty IRS trades?

enraged_camel 8y ago
That doesn’t seem relevant to the topic at hand.
- azeotropic 8y ago
  It's probably tangential,and anyone can get unlucky, but it does seem kind of fair to judge economic policy advisors by the performance of assets they control. We might get better predictions if they had to put their money where their mouth is, and everyone could see their scorecard.
  - jmcqk6 8y ago
    Your argument is that a good understanding of economics will inevitably lead to good gains in your investments, and a lack of performance in your investments means that you lack a good understand of economics. That seems kind of shaky to me.
  - enraged_camel 8y ago
    The two topics are tangentially related at best, though. Economic policy deals with much more than simply the stock market. Furthermore, economists typically don't specialize in investment management.
- gepi79 8y ago
  It still shows what to think about the economic experts in banks, politics and schools like Harvard. http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=40313 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=40313 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39889 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39889 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39788 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39788
- kchoudhu 8y ago
  It kind of does. Why should we take his opinion seriously after the debacle at Harvard?
  - daxorid 8y ago
    Same reason people take the Federal Reserve seriously, even after failing to see literally every single recession on their watch. A very human bias is to believe and follow those in positions of authority, despite long and verifiable records of abject failure and incompetence.
gepi79 8y ago
Yes, the Larry Summers that lost 1.8 billion dollars. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/29/how-larry-summers-lost-harvard-18-billion/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/29/how-larry-s...
- danielvf 8y ago
  To be fair, overall he made money - the 1.8 billion number was just the dip, but they were making money hand over fist in the years before, more than enough to come out positive overall.
- kchoudhu 8y ago
  Honestly, Summers has joined the pantheon of people I recommend people never take economic advice from -- also included are Jimmy Cayne, Vik Pandit and Dick Fuld.
- kadendogthing 8y ago
  >Update: Brad DeLong, in the comments, does some back-of-the-envelope math and reckons that Harvard came out ahead of the game, on net, even after accounting for that $1.8 billion loss. And the comments are closed. Neat.
  - gepi79 8y ago
    It is unfortunate indeed because I would like to read the comments in the blog as well. Despite the recovery of the "lost" or invested 1.8 billion, the story gives no good impression of Larry Summers.

enraged_camel 8y ago

That doesn’t seem relevant to the topic at hand.

azeotropic 8y ago
It's probably tangential,and anyone can get unlucky, but it does seem kind of fair to judge economic policy advisors by the performance of assets they control. We might get better predictions if they had to put their money where their mouth is, and everyone could see their scorecard.
- jmcqk6 8y ago
  Your argument is that a good understanding of economics will inevitably lead to good gains in your investments, and a lack of performance in your investments means that you lack a good understand of economics. That seems kind of shaky to me.
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  The two topics are tangentially related at best, though. Economic policy deals with much more than simply the stock market. Furthermore, economists typically don't specialize in investment management.
gepi79 8y ago
It still shows what to think about the economic experts in banks, politics and schools like Harvard. http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=40313 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=40313 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39889 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39889 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39788 http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39788
kchoudhu 8y ago
It kind of does. Why should we take his opinion seriously after the debacle at Harvard?
- daxorid 8y ago
  Same reason people take the Federal Reserve seriously, even after failing to see literally every single recession on their watch. A very human bias is to believe and follow those in positions of authority, despite long and verifiable records of abject failure and incompetence.

gepi79 8y ago

Yes, the Larry Summers that lost 1.8 billion dollars. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/29/how-larry-summers-lost-harvard-18-billion/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/11/29/how-larry-s...

danielvf 8y ago
To be fair, overall he made money - the 1.8 billion number was just the dip, but they were making money hand over fist in the years before, more than enough to come out positive overall.
kchoudhu 8y ago
Honestly, Summers has joined the pantheon of people I recommend people never take economic advice from -- also included are Jimmy Cayne, Vik Pandit and Dick Fuld.
kadendogthing 8y ago
>Update: Brad DeLong, in the comments, does some back-of-the-envelope math and reckons that Harvard came out ahead of the game, on net, even after accounting for that $1.8 billion loss. And the comments are closed. Neat.
- gepi79 8y ago
  It is unfortunate indeed because I would like to read the comments in the blog as well. Despite the recovery of the "lost" or invested 1.8 billion, the story gives no good impression of Larry Summers.