Mark Thoma vs Larry Summers

Mark and Larry discuss whether academic economists should listen more to practitioners.

The discussion is interesting, but unfortunately devoid of much evidence.  Let me note the following fact: If you look at the most influential economics research, you will find that relatively little of it came from interactions between academics and practitioners.  For example, Larry has eight articles on this list of greatest hits (an impressive achievement), but they were all written before his substantial "real world" experiences.