Anita A. Summers, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who injected quantitative rigor into a wide variety of public policy topics, including zoning, education and tax incentives, died on Sunday at her home in Gladwyne, Pa. She was 98.
Her son Lawrence H. Summers, the economist and former secretary of the Treasury, confirmed the death.
Though she spent much of her career in academia, Mrs. Summers was far from a hidebound intellectual.
She was the founding chairwoman of Wharton’s public policy and management department, the first of its kind at a business school.
(It is now called the department of business economics and public policy.)
Persons:
Anita, Summers, Lawrence H
Organizations:
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Treasury, Wharton, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Locations:
Gladwyne, Pa