Harvard’s Russia Scandal

Institutional Investor has a special report on Andrei Schleifer and Harvard’s Russia scandal, which played a role in the recent resignation of Harvard President Larry Summers:

Since being named president of Harvard University in 2001, former U.S. Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers has sparked a series of controversies that have grabbed headlines…Then, in quiet contrast, there is the case of economics professor Andrei Shleifer, who in the mid-1990s led a Harvard advisory program in Russia that collapsed in disgrace. In August, after years of litigation, Harvard, Shleifer and others agreed to pay at least $31 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. government. Harvard had been charged with breach of contract, Shleifer and an associate, Jonathan Hay, with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

Some might see a certain irony in the fact that Schleifer is a big name in behavioural economics, particularly as author of papers such as ‘Does Competition Destroy Ethical Behavior?’

posted on 28 February 2006 by skirchner in Economics

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