The Multinational Monitor

JULY/AUGUST 1997 · VOLUME 18 · NUMBER 5


T H E    L A W R E N C E    S U M M E R S    M E M O R I A L    A W A R D


THE JULY 1997 LAWRENCE SUMMERS MEMORIAL AWARD* goes to the U.S. Commerce Department and Jeffrey Garten, former U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade and currently dean of the Yale School of Management. Here are the comments which earned them this prestigious prize:


* In a 1991 internal memorandum, then-World Bank economist and current Deputy Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers argued for the transfer of waste and dirty industries from industrialized to developing countries. "Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs (lesser developed countries)?" Summers wrote. "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that. ... I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is vastly inefficiently low [sic] compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City." Summers later said the memo was meant to be ironic.

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