Posted By Warren Watson

NEW YORK — Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, and William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, were headliners at the recent, revived fall conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers here.

More than 120 business journalists and others attended sessions at City University of New York and nearby headquarters of Thomson Reuters Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

It was SABEW’s first New York conference since 2006 and represented a revival of a fall program sponsored by the largest organization of financial and economic journalists in the world.

Stiglitz and Dudley offered diagnoses of the slow-recovering economy in the opening sessions of the conference.

Banker Dudley, generally regarded as the most powerful of the 12 regional Fed presidents, suggested in a keynote session at the Oct. 1-2 event that the Fed consider resuming purchases of large amounts of government debt to stimulate the economic recovery. Click here to read the full text of Dudley’s remarks.

Dudley explored the delicate balance of tools used in effecting monetary policy in a lingering recession. “I’m optimistic there will be growth,” said Dudley. “I’m less optimistic that we’ll be back to normal soon.”

Stiglitz was less optimistic about substantial recovery when he addressed a pre-conference reception Sept. 30 at Thomson Reuters. The former chief economist for the World Bank said more stimulus is needed, and feared that Tea Party forces and critics of President Obama’s economic stimulus program could prompt a dangerous contraction of economic growth. Click here to read the Reynolds Center’s coverage of the Stiglitz speech.

SABEW leaders lauded the conference. “It was terrific in every sense: good panels, lots of chances to compare notes and network with colleagues and of course food and drink,” said Kevin Noblet, vice president of SABEW. “CUNY provided a great home for it, and Reuters and Bloomberg were generous hosts for our evening receptions.”

Noblet added, “It confirmed the wisdom of reviving the fall conference, of holding the event in New York, where so many financial journalists are based, and of partnering with an excellent university. The sentiment is pretty much unanimous that we should make this a perennial event.”

SABEW conducted its last fall program since 2008. A planned program in 2009 was cancelled because of the recession a year ago.

Attendees came from all over the country. The program was organized by Greg David, director of CUNY’s business and economics reporting program; and Marty Steffens, SABEW chair at the University of Missouri.

SABEW, with 3,200 members, is the largest association of business and economic journalists in the world. Sponsors of the two-day event included the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, Reuters, Bloomberg, the First Five Years Fund, Liquid Planner, and the National Endowment for Financial Education.  Reynolds also conducted a companion training session on the conference’s second day.