Jason Furman to Lead Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center After Summers’ Resignation

The Harvard Kennedy School announced Thursday that economist Jason Furman ’92 will serve as the next director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, succeeding former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers, who stepped down earlier this year amid scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey E. Epstein.

Furman, a professor at the Kennedy School and in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, will lead the center alongside longtime co-director and HKS professor John Haigh, who has held the role since 2011.

Summers announced in February that he would resign following renewed attention to his relationship with Epstein, leaving a vacancy at one of the Kennedy School’s flagship policy centers.

In a press release, HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein described the center as “one of Harvard Kennedy School’s most critical intellectual homes” and said Furman would bring “extraordinary vision, insights, and experience” to the role.

Furman brings a high-profile background spanning academia and government. He teaches Economics 10: “Principles of Economics” — Harvard’s largest course — and previously served eight years as a senior economic advisor to former U.S. President Barack Obama, including as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2017.

Haigh said he was “thrilled” to co-lead the center with Furman, pointing to the urgency of current debates over economic policy and technological change.

“Especially at this moment when the core questions about fiscal policy, technology, and economics have never felt more urgent or important, I look forward to what we’ll build together,” he wrote, adding that Furman’s background would be a “tremendous” asset to the center.

Founded to bridge scholarship and practice, the Mossavar-Rahmani Center conducts research on issues including health care, climate, labor markets, technology, and global trade. It also oversees GrowthPolicy, a public repository of more than 8,000 articles, papers, videos, and interviews from Harvard faculty.

The center also hosts fellows from business, government, and finance for semesters or academic years in residence and convenes events on topics ranging from antitrust regulation to the governance of artificial intelligence.

Furman said his career has focused on closing the gap between academic economics and real-world policymaking — a goal he plans to continue in the new role.

“M-RCBG has been doing this for decades, and I look forward to working with John to bring together faculty across Harvard, government, business, and other experts — with a diversity of perspectives and approaches — to better understand and address issues from the governance of artificial intelligence to industrial policy to macroeconomic management,” he wrote.

—Staff writer Jen L. Phan can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at jenphan.74. Follow her on X at @jenllphan.