Albany Watch

Gov. David Paterson today formed a Council of Economic Advisors to help him deal with the state’s budget woes.
He put some big names on the panel, including Robert Rubin and Roger Altman, former U.S. treasury secretaries, and Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Prize Winner.

The 18-member panel met today behind closed doors. Also on the panel is Rochester’s own Kent Gardner, right, head of the Center For Governmental Research.

“In this difficult fiscal climate, I am grateful that so many of our nation’s most gifted and renowned economists have agreed to serve on our Council of Economic Advisors,” said Governor Paterson.

The Council Members also include:
Bernard Anderson, economist and Senior Fellow at the Wharton School of Business
Richard Deitz, regional economist for Federal Reserve Bank of NY in Buffalo
Blair Effron, partner, Centerview Partners; former Vice-Chairman, UBS
Isaac Ehrlich, chairman of economics department at SUNY Buffalo
Dan O’Flaherty, associate economics professor at Columbia University
James Orr, assistant vp at Federal Reserve Bank of NY
James Parrott, chief economist at Fiscal Policy Institute
Steve Rattner, managing principal at Quadrangle Group
Richard Ravitch, principal at Ravitch, Rice and Company
Rae Rosen, senior economist at Federal Reserve Bank of NY (NYC)
Jerry Speyer, chairman and CEO at Tishman Speyer
William Spriggs, chairman of economics department at Howard University
Joseph Stiglitz, economics professor at Columbia University (Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics)
Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisors, LLC
Robert Ward, deputy director, Rockefeller Institute of Government