http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507982728673668.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read
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But consider this: Mr. Summers has nothing left to gain in the administration. In the fortress of America's most prestigious university, he can write a book, collect speaking fees, and be a paid adviser to Wall Street powerhouses.
He's done it before, having collected nearly $400,000 in speaking fees from Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., in 2008 alone.
Academia is the third, less talked-about stop on the Washington-to-Wall Street shuttle. You know the one. It's the first-class conveyor belt that moves powerful people such as Robert Rubin, William Donaldson, Roger Altman and many more from private industry to public service.
Riding coach to cushy Wall Street compliance jobs or powerhouse law firms are lesser lights, including Securities and Exchange Commission staff attorneys and bank examiners.
But a lesser-known spur carries passengers such as Mr. Summers to the most coveted spots in academia. Glenn Hubbard, the former Bush administration adviser, now runs Columbia University's business school. Frederic Mishkin left the Federal Reserve Board in the midst of the financial crisis to return to Columbia.
Mr. Mishkin's reason for leaving the Fed, he says in the new documentary "Inside Job," was that he "had a textbook to update." The more likely reason was that Mr. Mishkin was about to be called out on his role as the board member responsible for the Fed's economists and research, and disastrous predictions he made as a paid researcher for Iceland's chamber of commerce, a point made by the movie's writer and director, Charles Ferguson.
Mr. Mishkin isn't alone. As "Inside Job" notes, research and for-hire reputations are a big business. Companies including Charles River Associates and LECG Corp. are for-profit companies that sell the services of academic experts.
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Originally posted by zeeblebotWhat a stupid article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507982728673668.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read
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But consider this: Mr. Summers has nothing left to gain in the administration. In the fortress of America's most prestigious university, he can write a book, collect speaking fees, and be a paid adviser to Wall Street powerhouses.
He's d . are for-profit companies that sell the services of academic experts.
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Summers is tenured faculty ("University Professor"😉 no less at one of America's greatest universities. They have rules about how long a professor can be on leave for civic duty. Summers two years is up (the usual time to retire from his post). Why would anyone give up a very well-paid permanent appointment with super-cushy teaching loads and a ton of prestige? Especially when you've worked hard from undergrad to full tenure and then some to achieve such a fabulous job?
And Mishkin is just old. It's time for him to move back to academia (where once again he has a great job and a very good textbook on Money and Banking (I've used it.)
Finally, as for Wall Street hiring top academics as consultants, I say, "old news." Wall Street quants are smart, but these guys are smarter. Why wouldn't big business pay money for advice?
In the end, it's just about being an expert, and in these cases, very, very reputable experts. The author of the article sounds like sour grapes to me. Unfortunately, nature dealt him a mediocre hand, and he made little of what he was given.