"There is no ganging up on junior faculty," he says. "On the contrary, we do the dirty work and then they do their work."

And while Williamson acknowledges that the notorious infrequency of internal tenures at Harvard can be demoralizing for junior faculty, he says the training junior faculty receive at Harvard can be enough.

"There is an implicit contract that we will make you the best economist and we'll support you so that when you don't get tenure you can get a good appointment elsewhere," Williamson says.

New senior faculty members say one of most important factors in their decision to come here was that their peers are here.

"Success in recruiting builds on itself." Kremer says. "For example, the fact that Ariel Pakes, Ken Rogoff and Al Roth had accepted offers at Harvard increased Harvard's attractiveness to me."

Williamson's desire to win has served him and the economics department well for the last 17 years here. This year he will step down as chair of the department.

"I like the challenge," Williamson says, but I'm tired."