Paul Krugman

From the BBC:

"American academic Paul Krugman has won this year's Nobel economics prize, it has been announced.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award recognised his analysis of trade patterns and where economic activity takes place.

It said Prof Krugman, 55, who teaches at Princeton University, had formulated new theories that answered questions about free trade and globalisation.

Prof Krugman said he hoped the $1.4m win would not change his life greatly.

"The prize will enhance visibility but I hope it does not lead me into going to a lot of purely celebratory events, aside from the Nobel presentation itself," he said.

We are now witnessing a crisis that is as severe as the crisis that hit Asia in the 90s. This crisis bears some resemblance to the Great Depression Paul Krugman Nobel prize winner

Prof Krugman lectures in economics and international affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey, and also writes a regular column for the New York Times.

He has long been a fierce critic of US President George W Bush's administration, arguing that its economic policies have helped spark the current financial crisis.

The Nobel jury said Prof Krugman's work had led to theories that could help explain the effects of free trade and globalisation and the driving force behind worldwide urbanisation.

'Terrified'

"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," the academy said in its citation.

Prof Krugman's approach was based on the concept known as economies of scale - that many goods and services can be produced at less cost in long series, the citation said.

His research had showed the effects of that on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity, it added"






Professor Krugman said:

"“The problem isn't that people don't understand how good things are. It's that they know, from personal experience, that things really aren't that good.”"

The Joyless Economy (New York Times 5/12/05)