NYT's Krugman Wins Nobel Economic Prize

New York Times economist wasn't always political

(NEWSER) - Believe it or not, Paul Krugman once worked for Ronald Reagan. It’s not that Krugman was conservative; it’s that he just wasn’t political. He was an academic, and only vaguely aware of the growing right-left divide. “I feel now like I was sleepwalking through the twenty years before 2000,” says the subject of a lengthy profile in this week's New Yorker . But then came George W. Bush, who changed everything. More»

Nobel laureate write classic intro text for 'dismal science'

(NEWSER) - Paul A. Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics and a familiar name to generations of college students, died today at his home outside Boston. He was 94. Ben Bernanke praised his former MIT professor as "a titan of economics," and a colleague said of their fellow academics, "No one was more important in providing the tools they use and the ideas that they employ than Paul Samuelson." More»

(NEWSER) - If there’s any justice, Ben Bernanke will get another go-around at the helm of the Federal Reserve, Paul Krugman tells Bloomberg. “He’s earned the right to a second term,” the Nobel laureate says. “When the banking system failed to deliver capital where it was needed, he put the Fed into the market.” Bernanke’s 4-year term ends in January, and debate has been swirling over whether he should be reappointed. More»

Prize awarded for mechanism design theory

(NEWSER) - Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson have won this year’s Nobel Prize in economics for developing "mechanism design theory," which indicates when markets are working effectively, Reuters reports. The theory can be used to assess the factors which make individuals and corporations deviate from the ideal market suggested by Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ metaphor, the prize committee noted. More»

Robert Samuelson outlines the feud between the bearded economists

(NEWSER) - Call it the "battle of the beards," suggests Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post : Paul Krugman vs. Ben Bernanke. Both are prominent economists, both have facial hair aplenty, and each has called the other "reckless." Krugman has been lambasting the Fed for not doing enough to help the economy recover—even if it means boosting inflation. Inflation, he argues, isn't so scary. Rising prices would encourage people to buy now, not later, and it would reduce the "real" value of debt. More»