A peek into the mind of Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman is the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in international trade patterns. He is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and also a well-known  op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

He has served as a consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, as well as to a number of countries including Portugal and the Philippines. He has also served as senior international economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

 

 

 

Paul Krugman's rankings in the Thinkers 50 list of most influential business thinkers:

• 2009       3
• 2007       -
• 2005      39
• 2003      30
• 2001       -

 

Notable books authored / co-authored by  Paul Krugman:

 

Krugman is the author or editor of 23 books and more than 200 professional journal articles, many of them on international trade and finance.

 

• The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008  (2008)

• The Conscience of a Liberal (2007)
• MACROECONOMICS  (2006)
• Essentials of Economics (2006)
• Microeconomics  (2005)
• The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century (2003)
• Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan  (2001)
• The return of depression economics (1999)
• The spatial economy: cities, regions and international trade (1999)
• The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science  (1998)
• A Country Is Not a Company (HBR Classics) (1996)
• The Self Organizing Economy (1996)
• Pop Internationalism (1996)
• Development, Geography, and Economic Theory  (1995)
• Trade with Japan: has the door opened wider? (1995)
• Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations (1994)
• The Age of Diminished Expectations (1992)
• Currencies and Crises  (1992)
• Foreign direct investment in the United States (1991)
• Geography and Trade  (1991)
• Rethinking International Trade  (1990)
• Trade policy and market structure (1989)
• International Economics: Theory and Policy  (1988)
• Strategic trade policy and the new international economics (1986)

 

  

Paul Krugman quotes:

 

"For most Americans, economic growth is a spectator sport."

 

"Economics is really about two stories. One is the story of the old economist and younger economist walking down the street, and the younger economist says, ‘Look, there’s a hundred-dollar bill,’ and the older one says, ‘Nonsense, if it was there somebody would have picked it up already.’ So sometimes you do find hundred-dollar bills lying on the street, but not often—generally people respond to opportunities. The other is the Yogi Berra line ‘Nobody goes to Coney Island anymore; it’s too crowded.’ That’s the idea that things tend to settle into some kind of equilibrium where what people expect is in line with what they actually encounter."

 

"Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth."

 

"If Bush said the Earth was flat, the mainstream media would have stories with the headline: 'Shape of Earth—Views Differ.' Then they'd quote some Democrats saying that it was round."

 

"Conventional wisdom says that the responsible thing is to make the unemployed suffer. And while the benefits from inflicting pain are an illusion, the pain itself will be all too real."

 

 

 

"Even if he feels aggrieved, he has to judge his words by their usefulness, not by his desire to vent. "

 

"I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty."

 

 

 

"If it were profitable to have indentured servants in the modern world, I'm sure that Richard Scaife's think tanks would have no trouble finding justifications, and assorted Christian groups would explain why it's God's will."

 

"The appeal to the intellectually insecure is more important than it might seem. "

 

"The rich are different from you and me: they have more influence."

 

“Unsustainable situations usually go on longer than most economists think possible. But they always end, and when they do, it's often painful.”