David Meyer Wessel (born February 21, 1954) is an American journalist and writer. He has shared two

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for journalism. He is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

and a contributing correspondent to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', where he worked for 30 years. Wessel appears frequently on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

''.

Biography

Wessel is a native of

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He is the son of Morris A. Wessel, a

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

, and Irmgard R. Wessel, a clinical social worker. Wessel graduated from New Haven's Richard C. Lee High School in 1971 and from

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

in 1975, where he majored in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by

Eureka College Eureka College is a private college in Eureka, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1855, it is related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The college enrolled approximately 559 students in 2023. Eureka College was founde ...

. Wessel began his reporting career at the Middletown,

''Press'' in 1975 and joined the staff of the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' in 1977. He left Hartford in 1980 to spend a year as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. He moved to ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' in 1981 and was hired in 1983 as a reporter in ''The Wall Street Journals Boston bureau. He transferred to the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

bureau in 1987 and worked there for the duration of his time at the ''WSJ'', except for a brief period as the paper's

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

bureau chief in 1999-2000. On December 4, 2013, The Brookings Institution announced that Wessel would become the founding director of its new Hutchins Center on Fiscal and

Monetary Policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

. Wessel and his wife Naomi Karp, formerly a senior policy analyst at the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...

's Office for Older Americans, have two children, Julia and Ben.

Awards

Wessel has shared two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. In 1984, ''The Boston Globe'' and seven of its staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting, citing a 1983 "series examining race relations in Boston, a notable exercise in

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

that turned a searching gaze on some the city's most honored institutions including ''The Globe'' itself". The series highlighted the persistence of racism in employment in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He and others on the ''WSJ'' staff were nominated for Public Service in 2003 but awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

, citing "clear, concise and comprehensive stories that illuminated the roots, significance and impact of

corporate scandals A corporate collapse typically involves the insolvency or bankruptcy of a major business enterprise. A corporate scandal involves alleged or actual unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. Many recent corporate col ...

in America".

Works

Wessel is the author of several books and the editor of ''Central Banking after the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

'' (2014), which features an interview between

Ben Bernanke Ben Shalom Bernanke ( ; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Federal Reserve, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Insti ...

and

Liaquat Ahamed Liaquat Ahamed (born 14 November 1952 in Kenya) is an American author. Life and work Liaquat Ahamed was born in Kenya, where his grandfather had emigrated to from Gujarat, India, by way of Zanzibar in the late 19th century.John C. Williams, Donald Kohn, and Paul Tucker. ''Prosperity: The Coming 20-Year Boom and What It Means for You'' (1998), co-written with Bob Davis, is a look at the prospects for the

American middle class Though the American middle class does not have a definitive definition, contemporary social scientists have put forward several ostensibly congruent theories on it. Depending on the class model used, the middle class constitutes anywhere from 25% ...

. ''In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic'' (2009), a ''New York Times'' Best Seller, chronicles the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

's response to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

Michiko Kakutani is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life and family Kakutani, a Japanese Americ ...

's review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' calls it "essential, lucid—and, it turns out, riveting—reading". ''Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget'' is a primer on the federal budget and the deficit, published in July 2012 by Crown Business. Wessel's latest boo
''Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age''
the story of Opportunity Zones, was published in October 2021 by

PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is a book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. The current Publisher is Clive Priddl ...

. "He has a reporters eye for detail, an ability to tell the story in an exciting way, but also blends in rigorous policy analytics and a certain degree of sympathy and open mindedness--while being willing to make the calls when they are obvious,"

Jason Furman Jason Furman (born August 18, 1970) is an American economist and professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. On June 10, 2013, Fur ...

wrote about the book.

References

External links

David Wessel website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wessel, David Meyer 1954 births Living people American male journalists Jewish American journalists Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Haverford College alumni The Wall Street Journal people The Boston Globe people Hartford Courant people American economics writers Columbia University people 21st-century American Jews Brookings Institution people 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers