Others charge that Rubin and Summers then worsened the Asian crisis by being too tolerant of currency devaluations in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. Still others complain that by imposing high interest rates and other austerity measures on troubled economies, the Rubin-Summers team dried up consumer demand, causing unnecessary suffering among the poor. In terms of personal style, Summers is no Rubin. Summers, in an effort to overcome his reputation for intellectual arrogance, has occasionally parroted the phrase. Even Summers's staunchest defenders concede he can be self-centered.
Summers is used to being the smartest man in the room.
A champion college debater, he was the youngest professor ever to receive tenure at Harvard and also the first social scientist to win the highly coveted Alan Waterman prize for scientific achievement. But the self-assuredness that comes from such recognition has occasionally raised hackles both within the administration and on Capitol Hill. Senators and representatives also have taken offense on occasion at Summers's bluntness. Unlike Rubin, who left a position as co-head of Goldman Sachs before coming to Washington, Summers lacks any experience on Wall Street, which may prove to be another disadvantage. But, she stresses, Summers has acquired a lot of weight in global financial circles through his many Treasury missions in Europe and Asia over the past few years.