Robert Summers (June 22, 1922 – April 17, 2012) was an American economist and professor at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, where he taught from 1960. A widely cited early work by Summers is on the small-sample statistical properties of alternate regression estimators where analytical measures are unavailable. Summers received his Ph.D. from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Summers was part of a team at Penn that developed estimates of national income and output across countries which adjust GDP and components for

purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the measurement of prices in different countries that uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of ...

in the cost of goods and services among different countries, later termed the

Penn World Table The Penn World Table (PWT) is a set of national-accounts data developed and maintained by scholars at the University of California, Davis and thGroningen Growth Development Centreof the University of Groningen to measure real GDP across countries a ...

. This yielded large, systematic differences from the common method of using only international

exchange rates In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of t ...

to convert national products to a common currency. For that work, Summers and

Alan Heston Alan W. Heston (born 1934 in Portland, Oregon) is an American economist best known for his collaborative work with fellow economist Robert Summers and the development of the Penn World Table (PWT). Education and early life Heston was born October ...

were recognized as

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members. History and Constitution The AEA was esta ...

Distinguished Fellows for 1998. Prior to joining the Penn faculty, Summers was on the faculty at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Summers was married to

Anita Summers Anita Arrow Summers (born September 9, 1925) is an American educator of public policy, management, real estate and education and is Professor Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania. Biography Anita Arrow was born in New York City on September ...

. They are the parents of

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pre ...

. His brother is

Paul Samuelson Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...

. (Their deceased older brother Harold, a lawyer, changed his name to Summers in his youth, and Robert did the same.) All three of these people were also noted economists, as is his wife's brother

Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Joseph Arrow (23 August 1921 – 21 February 2017) was an American economist, mathematician, writer, and political theorist. He was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with John Hicks in 1972. In economics ...

References

External links

"Robert Summers: American Economics Association Distinguished Fellow Citation, 1998"
*

Mark Blaug Mark Blaug FBA (; 3 April 1927 – 18 November 2011) was a Dutch-born British economist (naturalised in 1982), who covered a broad range of topics during his long career. He was married to Ruth Towse. Life and work Blaug was born on 3 April ...

and Howard R. Vane (2003).
''Who's Who in Economics''
pp. 811–812. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Robert 1922 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews American economists Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association Fellows of the Econometric Society Stanford University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Yale University faculty

See also

References

External links