Quoting Larry Summers

"It is easier to start knowing economics and learn how to factor in politics than to start with politics and move to economics." Prof. Larry Summers

Unlike many professional economists who deliberately eschew commentary on public policy and the political, prof. Larry Summers tends to be uncharacteristically forthright with opinions on policy in general and in select areas of normative economics. This blogger considers that accomplished economists should increasingly tell their stories in a a world in which the opportunity and mechanisms for dispersal of ideas have unfortunately overtaken the degree of literacy on economics and the working of markets. As a consequence, very bad ideas are allowed to permeate and frame the context of policy discussions. In an interview given to the Harvard College Economic Review (HCER) for Fall 2006, prof. Larry summers offers this advise to students wondering about the confluence between politics and economics.