Summers’s Critics Distort His Regulatory Views

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A lot of public discussion takesplace before the president nominates a new Federal Reserve Boardchairman. This time, that discussion has gotten unusuallyheated.

Continuing economic difficulties are one reason. Another isthat Lawrence Summers, a top candidate, is a larger-than-lifefigure -- unusually well-known and widely admired, but in somecircles controversial. The paradox is that those who know himbest, and who have worked with him most closely, are his biggestsupporters -- and that the objections are coming largely fromthose who know him little or not at all. (Disclosure: Summers isa colleague and a friend, and I co-taught a course with him lastspring.)