October 13th, the "Nobel prize in Economics" was awarded to Paul Krugman "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity."Quote: "... Patterns of trade and location have always been key issues in the economic debate. What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions. He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography. Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced more cheaply in long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale. Meanwhile, consumers demand a varied supply of goods. As a result, small-scale production for a local market is replaced by large-scale production for the world market, where firms with similar products compete with one another ..."
Krugman has been tipped as a future winner for some time, so no surprise here. As an economist he is great, as a political commentator he sometimes is a total hack e.g. see the 'Truth, RIP (updated 9/22)' blog entry...
The Conscience of a liberal - Krugman blog at the NYT.
