Economists urge caution in debate over stagnation

Secular stagnation hung over the annual meeting of more than 5,000 economists from around the world this past weekend--as a description of the economy and not as comment on the liveliness of the cocktail parties.

Support for the thesis that the industrial world is mired in a prolonged period of slow or no growth was dimmed, though not banished, by the recent strength of the United States economy.

A standing-room only crowd packed a hotel ballroom on Saturday to hear two leading proponents of the proposal, Professors Lawrence Summers of Harvard University and Robert Gordon of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, defend their views.