May 1997 · VOLUME 18 · NUMBER 5
T H E L A W R E N C E S U M M E R S M E M O R I A L A W A R D
THE MAY 1997 LAWRENCE SUMMERS MEMORIAL AWARD* goes to New York
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Ocean City, Maryland Mayor James Mathias. Here are
the comments which earned them this prestigious prize:
"The city of New York in and of itself is an enormously valuable
trademark -- maybe one of the most valuable in the world." That was Mayor
Giuliani commenting on New York City's decision to hire the International
Management Group, a leading marketing agency, to help the city get corporate
sponsors for things like playgrounds, snack bars, litter baskets and even
police patrol cars. (Quoted in David M. Halbfinger, "For Sale, From Battery to
the Bronx," New York Times, May 1, 1997.)
"It's a great deal, not only for the city but for taxpayers. We're
closing in on a new century, and you have to have an intelligent way of doing
business. It's a novel approach to generating money." So spoke Mayor Mathias in
explaining Ocean City, Maryland's decision to enter into a $1.1 million
marketing deal with Coca-Cola. Coke will be the official soft drink of Ocean
City, and will be served exclusively at city-sponsored festivals and in
municipal buildings. (Quoted in Scott Bowles, "Some in Ocean City Aren't Sure
Things Go Better With Coke," Washington Post, April 24, 1997.)
* In a 1991 internal memorandum, then-World Bank economist and current Deputy
Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers argued for the transfer of waste and
dirty industries from industrialized to developing countries. "Just between you
and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty
industries to the LDCs (lesser developed countries)?" Summers wrote. "I think
the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage
country is impeccable and we should face up to that. ... I've always thought
that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air
quality is vastly inefficiently low [sic] compared to Los Angeles or Mexico
City." Summers later said the memo was meant to be ironic.
