Drawing on his experiences in Washington, Summers refuted the claim that the conditionality which the IMF imposes on developing nations is beyond the scope of the organization’s duties.

He said that such conditionality is only used “at a time when past policies have run out of gas and the economic trajectory of a country becomes unstable.”

And Monday night’s lecture dealt with the benefits of the involvement of industrialized nations in helping poor countries.

Summers’ advice regarding developing nations comes as Harvard fights a two-year-old lawsuit in which the government has alleged that the conduct of two University affiliates undermined a federally funded economic reform program in Russia. The parties are waiting on a judge’s decision on whether or not Harvard can be found liable for $102 million in damages without a trial.

The Godkin Lectures are held each year in memory of former political journalist Edwin Godkin. The lecture series began in 1903, and past speakers, selected by Kennedy School professors, have included Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller and the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Paul Samuelson, a Nobel-prize winning economist and Summers’ uncle, gave the lecture in 1986.

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore contributed to the reporting of the story.

—Staff writer Jenifer L. Steinhardt can be reached at steinhar@fas.harvard.edu.