Paul Krugman

File:Krugman-Tsien-Chalfie-Shimomura-Kobayashi-Masukawa-press conference Dec 07th, 2008-1.jpg, Martin Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa, Nobel Prize Laureates 2008, at a press conference at the Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm]]

Krugman was born to a Ukrainian Jewish family,{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/opinion/north-of-the-border.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=FB058596EB9FA5A1FBDBC8F2B4E77956&gwt=pay | title=North of the Border| newspaper=The New York Times| date=March 27, 2006| last1=Krugman| first1=Paul}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=IB3mBsgfIHQC&dq=krugman&pg=PA721 Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, Volume 1 edited by Stephen Harlan Norwood, Eunice G. Pollack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915131725/https://books.google.com/books?id=IB3mBsgfIHQC&pg=PA721&lpg=PA721&dq=krugman&f=false#v=onepage&q=krugman&f=false |date=September 15, 2015 }} p. 721 the son of Anita and David Krugman. In 1914, his maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Ukraine,{{cite web |last=Axelrod |first=David |url=https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-axe-files-presented-by-the-university-of-chicago-institute/episode/ep-372-paul-krugman-67718879 | title=Ep. 372 — Paul Krugman |date=March 2, 2020 |access-date=2021-08-06}} while in 1920, his paternal grandparents arrived from Belarus.{{cite web |last=Dunham |first=Chris |url=http://www.genealogywise.com/profiles/blogs/in-search-of-a-man-selling |title=In Search of a Man Selling Krug |publisher=Genealogywise.com |date=July 14, 2009 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722155503/http://www.genealogywise.com/profiles/blogs/in-search-of-a-man-selling |archive-date=July 22, 2009 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/opinion/republicans-senate-immigration-jd-vance.html#commentsContainer&permid=117903997%3A117909469 |title=[L]ater waves of immigrants were mostly looking for opportunity; although my own family (coming from Belarus and Ukraine) was fleeing violence and war.|newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 19, 2022}} He was born in Albany, New York, spent several years of his childhood in the upstate city of Utica,{{cite news | url=https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/732195944876236802 | first=Paul | last=Krugman | date=May 16, 2015| title=Caught my eye because I lived in Utica from age 3-8.| website=Twitter}} before growing up from age eight in Merrick, a hamlet in Nassau County, Long Island.{{cite news | url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/friday-night-music-got-to-admit-its-getting-better/ | work=The New York Times | first=Paul | last=Krugman | date=June 26, 2015 | access-date=June 27, 2015 | title=Friday Night Music: Got To Admit It's Getting Better | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627090153/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/friday-night-music-got-to-admit-its-getting-better/ | archive-date=June 27, 2015 | url-status=live}} He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore.{{cite news| title=Paul Krugman, LI [Long Island] native, wins Nobel in economics| url=https://www.newsday.com/business/paul-krugman-li-native-wins-nobel-in-economics-1.885718| first=Patricia| last=Kitchen| website=Newsday| date=October 13, 2008| access-date=February 4, 2022| archive-date=February 4, 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204043837/https://www.newsday.com/business/paul-krugman-li-native-wins-nobel-in-economics-1.885718| url-status=dead}} According to Krugman, his interest in economics began with Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels, in which the social scientists of the future use a new science of "psychohistory" to try to save civilization. Since present-day science fell far short of "psychohistory", Krugman turned to economics as the next best thing.Interview, U.S. Economist Krugman Wins Nobel Prize in Economics [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec08/nobelkrugman_10-13.html "PBS, Jim Lehrer News Hour"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122042610/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec08/nobelkrugman_10-13.html |date=January 22, 2014 }}, October 13, 2008, transcript Retrieved October 14, 2008The New York Times, August 6, 2009, [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/books/review/Upfront-t.html?_r=1 "Up Front: Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127145342/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/books/review/Upfront-t.html?_r=1 |date=January 27, 2017 }}

In 1974, Krugman earned his BA{{Cite web | url=https://www.biographyonline.net/nobelprize/economics/paul-krugman.html | title=Paul Krugman Biography | | access-date=November 21, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035306/https://www.biographyonline.net/nobelprize/economics/paul-krugman.html | archive-date=December 1, 2017 | url-status=live }} summa cum laude in economics from Yale University, where he was a National Merit Scholar. He then went on to pursue a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1977, he successfully completed his PhD in three years, with a thesis titled Essays on flexible exchange rates.{{Cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38003947 | title=Essays on flexible exchange rates. | access-date=November 11, 2019 }} While at MIT, he was part of a small group of MIT students sent to work for the Central Bank of Portugal for three months in the summer of 1976, during the chaotic aftermath of the Carnation Revolution.

Krugman later praised his PhD thesis advisor, Rudi Dornbusch, as "one of the great economics teachers of all time" and said that he "had the knack of inspiring students to pick up his enthusiasm and technique, but find their own paths".Paul Krugman, 2002, [http://www.pkarchive.org/theory/Rudi.html Rudi Dornbusch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414210325/http://www.pkarchive.org/theory/Rudi.html |date=April 14, 2012 }} In 1978, Krugman presented a number of ideas to Dornbusch, who flagged as interesting the idea of a monopolistically competitive trade model. Encouraged, Krugman worked on it and later wrote, "[I] knew within a few hours that I had the key to my whole career in hand". In that same year, Krugman wrote "The Theory of Interstellar Trade", a tongue-in-cheek essay on computing interest rates on goods in transit near the speed of light. He says he wrote it to cheer himself up when he was "an oppressed assistant professor".Paul Krugman, March 11, 2008, The New York Times blog, [https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/economics-the-final-frontier/ "Economics: the final frontier"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821004355/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/economics-the-final-frontier/ |date=August 21, 2017 }}

File:Paul Krugman at the German National Library in Frankfurt.jpg

Krugman became an assistant professor at Yale University in September 1977. He joined the faculty at MIT in 1979. From 1982 to 1983, Krugman spent a year working at the Reagan White House as a staff member of the Council of Economic Advisers. He rejoined MIT as a full professor in 1984. Krugman has also taught at Stanford and the London School of Economics.{{Cite web |url=https://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/g-k/krugman/Krugman-CV.pdf |title=Krugman Curriculum Vitae |access-date=March 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201936/http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/g-k/krugman/Krugman-CV.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live }}

In 2000, Krugman joined Princeton University as Professor of Economics and International Affairs. He is also currently Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and a member of the Group of Thirty international economic body. He has been a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1979. Krugman was President of the Eastern Economic Association in 2010. In February 2014, he announced that he would be retiring from Princeton in June 2015 and that he would be joining the faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

{{Citation| title = Changes (Personal/Professional)| last = Krugman| first = Paul| newspaper=The New York Times| date = February 28, 2014| access-date = July 18, 2014| url = https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/changes-personalprofessional/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0| quote = I have informed Princeton that I will be retiring at the end of next academic year, that is, in June 2015. In August 2015 I will join the faculty of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, as a professor in the Ph.D. program in economics. I will also become a distinguished scholar at the Graduate Center's Luxembourg Income Study Center.| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140726141130/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/changes-personalprofessional/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0| archive-date = July 26, 2014| url-status = live}}

Paul Krugman has written extensively on international economics, including international trade, economic geography, and international finance. The Research Papers in Economics project ranks him among the world's most influential economists. Krugman's International Economics: Theory and Policy, co-authored with Maurice Obstfeld, is a standard undergraduate textbook on international economics."Sources of international friction and cooperation in high-technology development and trade." National Academies Press, 1996, p. 190 He is also co-author, with Robin Wells, of an undergraduate economics text which he says was strongly inspired by the first edition of Paul Samuelson's classic textbook.{{cite news | author = Paul Krugman | title = Paul Samuelson, RIP | date = December 13, 2009 | newspaper=The New York Times | quote = One of the things Robin Wells and I did when writing our principles of economics textbook was to acquire and study a copy of the original, 1948 edition of Samuelson's textbook.}} Krugman also writes on economic topics for the general public, sometimes on international economic topics but also on income distribution and public policy.{{cite web |last1=LSE Staff |title=Paul Krugman |url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/about-lse/lse-people/Paul-Krugman |website=London School of Economics and Political Science |date=2023 |access-date=30 August 2023 }}

The Nobel Prize Committee stated that Krugman's main contribution is his analysis of the effects of economies of scale, combined with the assumption that consumers appreciate diversity, on international trade and on the location of economic activity.Nobel Prize Committee, [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2008/advanced-economicsciences2008.pdf "The Prize in Economic Sciences 2008"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830053939/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2008/advanced-economicsciences2008.pdf |date=August 30, 2017 }} The importance of spatial issues in economics has been enhanced by Krugman's ability to popularize this complicated theory with the help of easy-to-read books and state-of-the-art syntheses. "Krugman was beyond doubt the key player in 'placing geographical analysis squarely in the economic mainstream' ... and in conferring it the central role it now assumes."

{{main|New trade theory}}

Prior to Krugman's work, trade theory (see David Ricardo and Heckscher–Ohlin model) emphasized trade based on the comparative advantage of countries with very different characteristics, such as a country with a high agricultural productivity trading agricultural products for industrial products from a country with a high industrial productivity. However, in the 20th century, an ever-larger share of trade occurred between countries with similar characteristics, which is difficult to explain by comparative advantage. Krugman's explanation of trade between similar countries was proposed in a 1979 paper in the Journal of International Economics, and involves two key assumptions: that consumers prefer a diverse choice of brands, and that production favors economies of scale.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/10/13/krugman-nobel-economics-oped-cx_ap_1013panagariya.html|title=Paul Krugman, Nobel|author=Arvind Panagariya|date=October 13, 2008|work=Forbes|access-date=September 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107033738/https://www.forbes.com/2008/10/13/krugman-nobel-economics-oped-cx_ap_1013panagariya.html|archive-date=November 7, 2017|url-status=live}} Consumers' preference for diversity explains the survival of different versions of cars like Volvo and BMW. However, because of economies of scale, it is not profitable to spread the production of Volvos all over the world; instead, it is concentrated in a few factories and therefore in a few countries (or maybe just one).

File:Distribution of Manufacturing between Two Regions.png

Krugman modeled a 'preference for diversity' by assuming a CES utility function like that in a 1977 paper by Avinash Dixit and Joseph Stiglitz.{{cite journal |last=Dixit |first=Avinash |author2=Stiglitz, Joseph |year=1977 |title=Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity |journal=American Economic Review |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=297–308 |jstor=1831401}}{{cite journal |first=Toru |last=Kikuchi |title=The Dixit-Stiglitz-Krugman Trade Model: A Geometric Note |number=1006 |journal=Discussion Papers from Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University |url=http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/koewpaper/1006.htm |year=2010 |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425031112/http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/koewpaper/1006.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2013 |url-status=live }} Many models of international trade now follow Krugman's lead, incorporating economies of scale in production and a preference for diversity in consumption.{{cite book |last=Rosser |first=J. Barkley |year=2011 |title=Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity |page=24 |chapter=2: The New Economic Geography Approach |quote=The workhorse model of this approach since 1991 has been the model of monopolistic competition due to Avinash Dixit and Joseph Stiglitz (1977). It was used by Paul Krugman (1979, 1980) to provide an approach to analyzing increasing returns in international trade. | publisher=Springer }} This way of modeling trade has come to be called New Trade Theory.

Krugman's theory also took into account transportation costs, a key feature in producing the "home market effect", which would later feature in his work on the new economic geography. The home market effect "states that, ceteris paribus, the country with the larger demand for a good shall, at equilibrium, produce a more than proportionate share of that good and be a net exporter of it". The home market effect was an unexpected result, and Krugman initially questioned it, but ultimately concluded that the mathematics of the model were correct.

When there are economies of scale in production, it is possible that countries may become 'locked into' disadvantageous patterns of trade.{{cite journal | last1 = Krugman | first1 = P. | year = 1981 | title = Trade, accumulation, and uneven development | journal = Journal of Development Economics | volume = 8 | issue = 2| pages = 149–61 | doi=10.1016/0304-3878(81)90026-2| hdl = 10419/160238 | s2cid = 154117636 | hdl-access = free }} Krugman points out that although globalization has been positive on a whole, since the 1980s the process known as hyper-globalization has at least played a part in rising inequality.{{Cite web |title=Does globalization lead to inequality? |url=https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en/laureates/paul-krugman.html |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Nobel Perspectives |language=en}} Nonetheless, trade remains beneficial in general, even between similar countries, because it permits firms to save on costs by producing at a larger, more efficient scale, and because it increases the range of brands available and sharpens the competition between firms.[https://www.economist.com/finance/economicsfocus/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429411 "Bold strokes: a strong economic stylist wins the Nobel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021135904/http://www.economist.com/finance/economicsfocus/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429411 |date=October 21, 2008 }}, The Economist, October 16, 2008. Krugman has usually been supportive of free trade and globalization.(He writes on p. xxvi of his book The Great Unraveling that "I still have the angry letter Ralph Nader sent me when I criticized his attacks on globalization.") He has also been critical of industrial policy, which New Trade Theory suggests might offer nations rent-seeking advantages if "strategic industries" can be identified, saying it's not clear that such identification can be done accurately enough to matter.Strategic trade policy and the new international economics, Paul R. Krugman (ed), The MIT Press, p. 18, {{ISBN|978-0-262-61045-2}}

It took an interval of eleven years, but ultimately Krugman's work on New Trade Theory (NTT) converged to what is usually called the "new economic geography" (NEG), which Krugman began to develop in a seminal 1991 paper, "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography", published in the Journal of Political Economy.[https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/honoring-paul-krugman/ "Honoring Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226220634/https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/honoring-paul-krugman/ |date=December 26, 2017 }} Economix blog of The New York Times, Edward Glaeser, October 13, 2008. In Krugman's own words, the passage from NTT to NEG was "obvious in retrospect; but it certainly took me a while to see it. ... The only good news was that nobody else picked up that $100 bill lying on the sidewalk in the interim."Krugman (1999) [http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ohlin.html "Was it all in Ohlin?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523233412/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ohlin.html |date=May 23, 2009 }} This would become Krugman's most-cited academic paper: by early 2009, it had 857 citations, more than double his second-ranked paper.{{cite journal | last1 = Behrens | first1 = Kristian | last2 = Robert-Nicoud | first2 = Frédéric | year = 2009 | title = Krugman's Papers in Regional Science: The 100 dollar bill on the sidewalk is gone and the 2008 Nobel Prize well-deserved | journal = Papers in Regional Science | volume = 88 | issue = 2| pages = 467–89 | doi=10.1111/j.1435-5957.2009.00241.x| doi-access = free | bibcode = 2009PRegS..88..467B }} Krugman called the paper "the love of my life in academic work".Krugman PR (2008), [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/krugman-interview.html "Interview with the 2008 laureate in economics Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726170441/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/krugman-interview.html |date=July 26, 2010 }}, December 6, 2008. Stockholm, Sweden.

The "home market effect" that Krugman discovered in NTT also features in NEG, which interprets agglomeration "as the outcome of the interaction of increasing returns, trade costs and factor price differences". If trade is largely shaped by economies of scale, as Krugman's trade theory argues, then those economic regions with most production will be more profitable and will therefore attract even more production. That is, NTT implies that instead of spreading out evenly around the world, production will tend to concentrate in a few countries, regions, or cities, which will become densely populated but will also have higher levels of income.

Manufacturing is characterized by increasing returns to scale and less restrictive and expansive land qualifications as compared to agricultural uses. So, geographically where can manufacturing be predicted to develop? Krugman states that manufacturing's geographical range is inherently limited by economies of scale, but also that manufacturing will establish and accrue itself in an area of high demand. Production that occurs adjacent to demand will result in lower transportation costs, but demand, as a result, will be greater due to concentrated nearby production. These forces act upon one another simultaneously, producing manufacturing and population agglomeration. Population will increase in these areas due to the more highly developed infrastructure and nearby production, therefore lowering the expense of goods, while economies of scale provide varied choices of goods and services. These forces will feed into each other until the greater portion of the urban population and manufacturing hubs are concentrated into a relatively insular geographic area.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Faculty/Matthew_Turner/ec2410/readings/Krugman_JPE1991.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=November 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033145/http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Faculty/Matthew_Turner/ec2410/readings/Krugman_JPE1991.pdf |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |url-status=live }}

Krugman has also been influential in the field of international finance. As a graduate student, Krugman visited the Federal Reserve Board where Stephen Salant and Dale Henderson were completing their discussion paper on speculative attacks in the gold market. Krugman adapted their model for the foreign exchange market, resulting in a 1979 paper on currency crises in the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, which showed that misaligned fixed exchange rate regimes are unlikely to end smoothly but instead end in a sudden speculative attack.{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/crises.html |title=Currency Crises |publisher=Web.mit.edu |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328020946/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/crises.html |archive-date=March 28, 2010 |url-status=live }} Krugman's paper is considered one of the main contributions to the 'first generation' of currency crisis models,{{cite book|last=Sarno |first=Lucio |author2=Mark P. Taylor |title=The Economics of Exchange Rates |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |pages=245–64|isbn=978-0-521-48584-5 }}Craig Burnside, Martin Eichenbaum, and Sergio Rebelo (2008), [http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/rebelo/htm/currency%20crisis%20models%20Ed.pdf "Currency crisis models"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028210433/http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/rebelo/htm/currency%20crisis%20models%20Ed.pdf |date=October 28, 2008 }}, New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd ed. and it is his second-most-cited paper (457 citations as of early 2009).

In response to the 2008 financial crisis, Krugman proposed, in an informal "mimeo" style of publication,"The International Finance Multiplier", P. Krugman, October 2008 an "international finance multiplier", to help explain the unexpected speed with which the global crisis had occurred. He argued that when, "highly leveraged financial institutions [HLIs], which do a lot of cross-border investment [. ... ] lose heavily in one market ... they find themselves undercapitalized, and have to sell off assets across the board. This drives down prices, putting pressure on the balance sheets of other HLIs, and so on." Such a rapid contagion had hitherto been considered unlikely because of "decoupling" in a globalized economy.[http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20080626a.htm "Global Economic Integration and Decoupling"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622030120/http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20080626a.htm |date=June 22, 2009 }}, Donald L. Kohn, speech at the International Research Forum on Monetary policy, Frankfurt, Germany, 06-26-2008; from website for the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved 08-20-2009, June 26, 2008Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal Online, orig. from Businessworld February 8, 2008 [http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/decoupling-demystified "Decoupling Demystified"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515035546/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/decoupling-demystified |date=May 15, 2011 }}"The myth of decoupling," Sebastien Walti, February 2009 He first announced that he was working on such a model on his blog, on October 5, 2008.[https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/the-international-finance-multiplier/ "The International Finance Multiplier"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222173204/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/the-international-finance-multiplier/ |date=December 22, 2018 }}, The Conscience of a Liberal (blog), 10-05-2008. Retrieved 09-20-2009 Within days of its appearance, it was being discussed on some popular economics-oriented blogs.Andrew Leonard, "Krugman: 'We are all Brazilians now'", [http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/ "How the World Works"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503084145/http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/ |date=May 3, 2009 }}, 10-07-2008"Krugman: The International Finance Multiplier", Mark Thoma, Economist's View, 10-06-2008, [http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/10/krugman-the-int.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102204518/http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/10/krugman-the-int.html|date=January 2, 2010}}

The note was soon being cited in papers (draft and published) by other economists,{{cite journal | last1 = O'Brien | first1 = R | last2 = Keith | first2 = A | year = 2009| title = The geography of finance: after the storm | journal = Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 245–65 | doi = 10.1093/cjres/rsp015 | doi-access = free }} even though it had not itself been through ordinary peer review processes.

{{Macroeconomics sidebar}}

Krugman has done much to revive discussion of the liquidity trap as a topic in economics.

Japanese fixed income markets: money, bond and interest rate derivatives, Jonathan Batten, Thomas A. Fetherston, Peter G. Szilagyi (eds.) Elsevier Science, November 30, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-444-52020-3}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=RWzj6SWtm0EC&q=most.influential.argument&pg=PA135 p. 137] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915151737/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RWzj6SWtm0EC&oi=fnd&pg=PA135&dq=Japan%27s.trap+krugman&ots=PHhlxx5s5I&sig=QZe5_PTAouyGwJRk2WPFwitNUAo#v=snippet&q=most.influential.argument&f=false |date=September 15, 2015 }}

Ben Bernanke, "Japanese Monetary Policy: a case of self-induced paralysis?", in Japan's financial crisis and its parallels to U.S. experience, Ryōichi Mikitani, Adam Posen (ed), Institute for International Economics, October 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-88132-289-7}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=WAgXuZxPvrUC&dq=liquidity.trap+krugman&pg=PA149 p. 157] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530073856/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WAgXuZxPvrUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA149&dq=liquidity.trap+krugman&ots=MR_mWUeYAU&sig=WEMKacqfjcEOL2Oil1xNPB0J-UE#v=onepage&q=liquidity.trap%20krugman&f=false |date=May 30, 2015 }}{{cite web|title=Some Observations on the Return of the Liquidity Trap|first=Scott|last=Sumner|date=2002|url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2002/1/cj21n3-8.pdf}}Reconstructing Macroeconomics: Structuralist Proposals and Critiques of the Mainstream, Lance Taylor, Harvard University Press, p. 159: "Kregel (2000) points out that there are at least three theories of the liquidity trap in the literature – Keynes own analyses ... Hicks' [in] 1936 and 1937 ... and a view that can be attributed to Fisher in the 1930s and Paul Krugman in latter days" He recommended pursuing aggressive fiscal policy and unconventional monetary policy to counter Japan's lost decade in the 1990s, arguing that the country was mired in a Keynesian liquidity trap.{{cite web |author=Paul Krugman |url=http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/jpage.html |title=Paul Krugman's Japan page |publisher=Web.mit.edu |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020111606/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/jpage.html |archive-date=October 20, 2008 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |jstor = 2534694|title = It's Baaack: Japan's Slump and the Return of the Liquidity Trap|journal = Brookings Papers on Economic Activity|volume = 1998|issue = 2|pages = 137–205|last1 = Krugman|first1 = Paul R.|last2 = Dominquez|first2 = Kathryn M.|last3 = Rogoff|first3 = Kenneth|year = 1998|doi = 10.2307/2534694|url = https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1998/06/1998b_bpea_krugman_dominquez_rogoff.pdf}}Krugman, Paul (2000), [http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/trioshrt.html "Thinking About the Liquidity Trap"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825214128/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/trioshrt.html |date=August 25, 2009 }}, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, v.14, no.4, Dec 2000, pp. 221–37. The debate he started at that time over liquidity traps and what policies best address them continues in the economics literature.{{Cite journal |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=2008 |title=Response to Nelson and Schwartz |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S030439320800069X |journal=Journal of Monetary Economics |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=857–860 |doi=10.1016/j.jmoneco.2008.05.011}}

Krugman had argued in The Return of Depression Economics that Japan was in a liquidity trap in the late 1990s, since the central bank could not drop interest rates any lower to escape economic stagnation.Krugman, Paul (1999). "The Return of Depression Economics", pp. 70–77. W. W. Norton, New York {{ISBN|0-393-04839-X}} The core of Krugman's policy proposal for addressing Japan's liquidity trap was inflation targeting, which, he argued "most nearly approaches the usual goal of modern stabilization policy, which is to provide adequate demand in a clean, unobtrusive way that does not distort the allocation of resources". The proposal appeared first in a web posting on his academic site."Japan's Trap", May 2008. [http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/japtrap.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090819054106/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/japtrap.html|date=August 19, 2009}} Retrieved 08-22-2009 This mimeo-draft was soon cited, but was also misread by some as repeating his earlier advice that Japan's best hope was in "turning on the printing presses", as recommended by Milton Friedman, John Makin, and others.

[http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/liquid.html "Further Notes on Japan's Liquidity Trap"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001134806/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/liquid.html |date=October 1, 2009 }}, Paul Krugman

Restoring Japan's economic growth, Adam Posen, Petersen Institute, September 1, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-88132-262-0}} , [https://books.google.com/books?id=O-B91DjqzGEC&q=turning.on.the.printing.presses+krugman p. 123] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915123221/https://books.google.com/books?id=O-B91DjqzGEC&dq=Posen+Restoring.Japan's.Economic.Growth&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=oC5JodeviN&sig=aPlUKQn7KUsC7_dW4iFhDn7YfII&hl=en&ei=oGaOSrrwPNaXkQWhk9W7Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=turning.on.the.printing.presses%20krugman&f=false |date=September 15, 2015 }},

"What is wrong with Japan?", Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 1997 [http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/nikkei.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911155130/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/nikkei.html|date=September 11, 2009}}

Krugman has since drawn parallels between Japan's 'lost decade' and the late 2000s recession, arguing that expansionary fiscal policy is necessary as the major industrialized economies are mired in a liquidity trap.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/opinion/15krugman.html |title=Stay the Course |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 15, 2009 |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=June 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511185407/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/opinion/15krugman.html |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live }} In response to economists who point out that the Japanese economy recovered despite not pursuing his policy prescriptions, Krugman maintains that it was an export-led boom that pulled Japan out of its economic slump in the late-90s, rather than reforms of the financial system.[http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/rieti_report/108.html "Some Reasons Why a New Crisis Needs a New Paradigm of Economic Thought"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806225602/http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/rieti_report/108.html |date=August 6, 2009 }}, Keiichiro Kobayashi, RIETI Report No.108, Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry (Japan), 07-31-2009

Krugman was one of the most prominent advocates of the 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence, so much so that economics commentator Noah Smith referred to it as the "Krugman insurgency".{{cite book|author=Robert Skidelsky|year=2009|title=Keynes: The Return of the Master|publisher=Allen Lane|pages=[https://archive.org/details/keynesreturnofma0000skid/page/47 47–50, 58]|isbn=978-1-84614-258-1|title-link=Keynes: The Return of the Master|author-link=Robert Skidelsky}}{{Cite web|url= http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/03/noah-smith-on-the-left-opposition-economists.html?cid=6a00e551f0800388340168e920541d970c|title= Die the Krugman insurgency fail?|publisher= Brad DeLong|author= Noah Smith|date= March 21, 2012|access-date= 2012-05-29|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130825222417/http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/03/noah-smith-on-the-left-opposition-economists.html?cid=6a00e551f0800388340168e920541d970c|archive-date= August 25, 2013|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= http://www.cedes.uerj.br/documentos/artigos/Consensus%20Dissensus%20and%20Economic%20Ideas%20The%20Rise%20and%20Fall%20of%20Keynesianism%20during%20the%20economic%20crisis.pdf|title= Consensus, Dissensus and Economic Ideas: The Rise and Fall of Keynesianism During the Economic Crisis|publisher= The Center for the Study of Development Strategies|author= Henry Farrell and John Quiggin|date= March 2012|access-date= 2012-05-29|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130825142408/http://www.cedes.uerj.br/documentos/artigos/Consensus%20Dissensus%20and%20Economic%20Ideas%20The%20Rise%20and%20Fall%20of%20Keynesianism%20during%20the%20economic%20crisis.pdf|archive-date= August 25, 2013|df= mdy-all}}

His view that most peer-reviewed macroeconomic research since the mid-1960s is wrong, preferring simpler models developed in the 1930s, has been criticized by some modern economists, like John H. Cochrane.Cochrane, John. [http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/ecaf_2077.pdf "How Did Paul Krugman Get It So Wrong?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304015517/http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/ecaf_2077.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }}, Institute of Economic Affairs, 2011. In June 2012, Krugman and Richard Layard launched A manifesto for economic sense, where they call for greater use of fiscal stimulus policy to reduce unemployment and foster growth.{{cite web|url= http://www.manifestoforeconomicsense.org/|title= A Manifesto for Economic Sense|author= Paul Krugman and Richard Layard|date= June 27, 2012|access-date= 2012-07-11|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120712083509/http://www.manifestoforeconomicsense.org/|archive-date= July 12, 2012|url-status= live}} The manifesto received over four thousand signatures within two days of its launch,

{{cite news|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/david-blanchflower/david-blanchflower-yet-more-nails--in-osbornes--economic-coffin-7902990.html|title= David Blanchflower: Yet more nails in Osborne's economic coffin|newspaper= The Independent|author= David Blanchflower|date= July 2, 2012|access-date= 2012-07-11|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150614020214/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/david-blanchflower/david-blanchflower-yet-more-nails--in-osbornes--economic-coffin-7902990.html|archive-date= June 14, 2015|url-status= live}}

and has attracted both positive and critical responses.

{{cite magazine|url= http://www.thenation.com/blog/168737/time-coalition-rational|title= Krugman's Manifesto for Economic Common Sense|magazine= The Nation|author= Katrina vanden Heuvel|date= July 9, 2012|access-date= 2012-07-11|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120711234547/http://www.thenation.com/blog/168737/time-coalition-rational|archive-date= July 11, 2012|url-status= live|author-link= Katrina vanden Heuvel}}

{{cite news|url= http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/07/09/krugman-and-layard-suffer-from-optimism-bias/|title= Krugman and Layard suffer from optimism bias|newspaper=Financial Times|author= Stephen King (chief economist HSBC)|date= July 9, 2012|access-date= 2012-07-11|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120711233008/http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/07/09/krugman-and-layard-suffer-from-optimism-bias/|archive-date= July 11, 2012|url-status= live}}

File:President George W. Bush poses for a photo with Nobel Prize winners Monday, Nov. 24, 2008.jpg poses for a photo with Nobel Prize winners Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, in the Oval Office. Joining President Bush from left are, Dr. Paul Krugman, Economics Prize Laureate; Dr. Martin Chalfie, Chemistry Prize Laureate; and Dr. Roger Tsien, Chemistry Prize Laureate.]]

Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (informally the Nobel Prize in Economics), the sole recipient for 2008. This prize includes an award of about $1.4 million and was given to Krugman for his work associated with New Trade Theory and the New Economic Geography.{{cite news |url=https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/paul-krugman-wins-economics-nobel/?em |title=Paul Krugman Wins Economics Nobel |publisher=Economix.blogs.nytimes.com |author=Catherine Rampell |date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=October 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014204717/http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/paul-krugman-wins-economics-nobel/?em |archive-date=October 14, 2008 |url-status=live |author-link=Catherine Rampell }} In the words of the prize committee, "By having integrated economies of scale into explicit general equilibrium models, Paul Krugman has deepened our understanding of the determinants of trade and the location of economic activity."Prize Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, October 13, 2008, Scientific background on the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008, [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2008/advanced-economicsciences2008.pdf "Trade and Geography – Economies of Scale, Differentiated Products and Transport Costs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830053939/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2008/advanced-economicsciences2008.pdf |date=August 30, 2017 }}

File:Paul Krugman accepts EPI Distinguished Economist Award.webm

• 1991, American Economic Association, John Bates Clark Medal.Avinash Dixit, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring, 1993), pp. 173–88, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2138206 In Honor of Paul Krugman: Winner of the John Bates Clark Medal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604234515/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138206 |date=June 4, 2016 }}, Retrieved March 28, 2007. Since it was awarded to only one person, once every two years (prior to 2009), The Economist has described the Clark Medal as 'slightly harder to get than a Nobel prize'.
• 1992, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).
• 1995, Adam Smith Award of the National Association for Business Economics{{cite web |url=http://www.nabe.com/publib/asmith.htm |title=Adam Smith Award |publisher=Nabe.com |access-date=2011-10-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927225018/http://www.nabe.com/publib/asmith.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}
• 1998, Doctor honoris causa in Economics awarded by Free University of Berlin Freie Universität Berlin in Germany
• 2000, H.C. Recktenwald Prize in Economics, awarded by University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.
• 2002, Editor and Publisher, Columnist of the Year.Mother Jones: [https://www.motherjones.com/radio/2005/08/krugman_bio.html Paul Krugman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206001632/http://www.motherjones.com/radio/2005/08/krugman_bio.html |date=December 6, 2008 }}., August 7, 2005. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
• 2004, Fundación Príncipe de Asturias (Spain), Prince of Asturias Awards in Social Sciences.[http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premiados/trayectorias/trayectoria786.html Paul Krugman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083031/http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premiados/trayectorias/trayectoria786.html |date=September 29, 2007 }}, 2004. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
• 2004, Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa, Haverford College{{cite web |url=http://www.haverford.edu/publicrelations/news/krugman.html |title=Citation presented by Linda Bell, Associate Professor of Economics |publisher=Haverford.edu |date=May 28, 2004 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118061846/http://www.haverford.edu/publicrelations/news/krugman.html |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
• 2008, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for Krugman's contributions to New Trade Theory.{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/ |title=Nobel Prize in Economics |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=October 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014114055/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/ |archive-date=October 14, 2008 |url-status=live }} He became the twelfth John Bates Clark Medal winner to be awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize.
• 2010, Howland Memorial Prize, awarded by Yale University{{cite web|url=https://news.yale.edu/2010/11/08/nobel-laureate-and-ny-times-columnist-paul-krugman-receive-yale-award|title=Nobel Laureate and NY Times Columnist Paul Krugman to Receive Yale Award|website=news.yale.edu|date=November 8, 2010|access-date=November 18, 2020}}
• 2011, EPI Distinguished Economist Award.

{{Cite web

| title = EPI at 25: Honoring Paul Krugman

| work = Economic Policy Institute

| date = 2011-11-01

| access-date = 2017-12-05

| url = http://www.epi.org/publication/epi-25-paul-krugman-video/

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171206080016/http://www.epi.org/publication/epi-25-paul-krugman-video/

| archive-date = December 6, 2017

| url-status = live

}}

• 2011 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary{{Cite web |url=https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |title=Loeb Award Winners |date=June 28, 2011 |website=UCLA Anderson School of Management |access-date=February 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321211554/http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |url-status=dead }}
• 2012, Doctor honoris causa from the Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and Universidade Nova de Lisboa{{cite web |url=http://www.unl.pt/noticia/2012/honoris-causa-a-paul-krugman |title=Honoris Causa a Paul Krugman |publisher=Universidade Nova de Lisboa |language=pt |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818072616/http://www.unl.pt/noticia/2012/honoris-causa-a-paul-krugman |archive-date=August 18, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web |title=Paul Krugman: Doctor honoris causa by three Portuguese universities |url=http://portuguese-american-journal.com/paul-krugman-doctor-honoris-causa-by-three-portuguese-universities-%E2%80%93-portugal/ |publisher=Portuguese American Journal |date=February 28, 2012 |access-date=March 19, 2012}}
• 2013, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa conferred by the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada{{cite web |url=http://news.utoronto.ca/honorary-graduate-paul-krugman |title=Honorary graduate Paul Krugman |publisher=University of Toronto |date=June 14, 2013 |access-date=2013-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614135223/http://www.news.utoronto.ca/honorary-graduate-paul-krugman |archive-date=June 14, 2013 |url-status=live }}
• 2014, recipient of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)'s James Joyce Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the economic sciences.{{cite web |url=http://www.ucd.ie/news/2014/01JAN14/140114-Economist-Professor-Paul-Krugman-receives-James-Joyce-Award-from-the-UCD-Literary-and-Historical-Society.html |title=Economist Professor Paul Krugman receives James Joyce Award from UCD Literary & Historical Society |publisher=University College Dublin |date=January 14, 2014 |access-date=2014-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116125919/http://www.ucd.ie/news/2014/01JAN14/140114-Economist-Professor-Paul-Krugman-receives-James-Joyce-Award-from-the-UCD-Literary-and-Historical-Society.html |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |url-status=live }}
• 2014, recipient of the Green Templeton College, Oxford's Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professorship of Business and Development, Trinity Term 2014, in recognition of his outstanding international reputation in scholarship and research in the field of Development Economics and Business.{{cite web |url=http://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/view/1684.html |title=Welcome Professor Krugman as the Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor of Business and Development |publisher=Green Templeton College, Oxford |date=May 7, 2014 |access-date=2014-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218112204/http://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/view/1684.html |archive-date=February 18, 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/|title=Home|first=Green Templeton|last=College|website=Green Templeton College|access-date=January 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109171523/https://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/|archive-date=January 9, 2019|url-status=live}}
• 2016, Doctor of Letters, honoris causa conferred by the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK{{Cite web | url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-02-25-oxford-announces-honorary-degrees-2016 | title=Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2016 | University of Oxford | date=February 25, 2016 | access-date=April 27, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160713204709/http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-02-25-oxford-announces-honorary-degrees-2016 | archive-date=July 13, 2016 | url-status=live }}

A May 2011 Hamilton College analysis of 26 politicians, journalists, and media commentators who made predictions in major newspaper columns or television news shows from September 2007 to December 2008 found that Krugman was the most accurate. Only nine of the prognosticators predicted more accurately than chance, two were significantly less accurate, and the remaining 14 were no better or worse than a coin flip. Krugman was correct in 15 out of 17 predictions, compared to 9 out of 11 for the next most accurate media figure, Maureen Dowd.{{Cite web | title=Are Talking Heads Blowing Hot Air? | url=https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/An-Analysis-of-the-Accuracy-of-Forecasts-in-the-Political-Media.pdf | date=May 12, 2011 | publisher=Hamilton College}}

Krugman was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011.{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Paul+Krugman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-02|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

Foreign Policy named Krugman one of its 2012 FP Top 100 Global Thinkers "for wielding his acid pen against austerity".{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/26/the_fp_100_global_thinkers?page=0,28 |title=The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers |date=November 26, 2012 |work=Foreign Policy |access-date=November 28, 2012 |archive-date=November 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130221322/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/26/the_fp_100_global_thinkers?page=0,33 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

File:Paul Krugman BBF 2010 Shankbone.jpg]]

In the 1990s, besides academic books and textbooks, Krugman increasingly began writing books for a general audience on issues he considered important for public policy. In The Age of Diminished Expectations (1990), he wrote in particular about the increasing US income inequality in the "New Economy" of the 1990s. He attributes the rise in income inequality in part to changes in technology, but principally to a change in political atmosphere which he attributes to Movement Conservatives.

In September 2003, Krugman published a collection of his columns under the title, The Great Unraveling, about the Bush administration's economic and foreign policies and the US economy in the early 2000s. His columns argued that the large deficits during that time were generated by the Bush administration as a result of decreasing taxes on the rich, increasing public spending, and fighting the Iraq War. Krugman wrote that these policies were unsustainable in the long run and would eventually generate a major economic crisis. The book was a best-seller.The Economist, November 13, 2003, [https://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2208841 "Paul Krugman, one-handed economist"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517121228/http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2208841 |date=May 17, 2006 }}{{cite web |title=The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century |publisher=Powell's Books |url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-0393326055-0 |access-date=November 22, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110120300/http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-0393326055-0 |archive-date=January 10, 2008 |url-status=live }}Krugman, Paul, Rolling Stone. December 14, 2006, [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12699486/paul_krugman_on_the_great_wealth_transfer/print "The Great Wealth Transfer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406021640/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12699486/paul_krugman_on_the_great_wealth_transfer/print |date=April 6, 2010 }}

In 2007, Krugman published The Conscience of a Liberal, whose title refers to Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR1FpbMkZ58 "Nobelpristagaren i ekonomi 2008: Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910144851/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR1FpbMkZ58 |date=September 10, 2013 }}, speech by Paul Krugman (Retrieved December 26, 2008) 00:43 "The title of The Conscience of a Liberal ... is a reference to a book published almost 50 years ago in the United States called The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. That book is often taken to be the origin, the start, of a movement that ended up dominating U.S. politics that reached its first pinnacle under Ronald Reagan and then reached its full control of the U.S. government for most of the last eight years." It details the history of wealth and income gaps in the United States in the 20th century. The book describes how the gap between rich and poor declined greatly during the middle of the century, and then widened in the last two decades to levels higher even than in the 1920s. In Conscience, Krugman argues that government policies played a much greater role than commonly thought both in reducing inequality in the 1930s through 1970s and in increasing it in the 1980s through the present, and criticizes the Bush administration for implementing policies that Krugman believes widened the gap between the rich and poor.

Krugman also argued that Republicans owed their electoral successes to their ability to exploit the race issue to win political dominance of the South.Michael Tomasky, The New York Review of Books, November 22, 2007, [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20813 "The Partisan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307063147/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20813 |date=March 7, 2008 }}Krugman, Paul. The Conscience of a Liberal, 2007, W.W. Norton & Co. {{ISBN|0-393-06069-1}} p. 182 Krugman argues that Ronald Reagan had used the "Southern Strategy" to signal sympathy for racism without saying anything overtly racist,Conscience of a Liberal, p. 102 citing as an example Reagan's coining of the term "welfare queen".Conscience of a Liberal, p. 108

In his book, Krugman proposed a "new New Deal", which included placing more emphasis on social and medical programs and less on national defense.October 17, 2007 – Krugman [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/17/1352236 "On Healthcare, Tax Cuts, Social Security, the Mortgage Crisis and Alan Greenspan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113203402/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/17/1352236 |date=November 13, 2007 }}, in response to Alan Greenspan's [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/24/1412226 September 24 appearance] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009174033/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/24/1412226 |date=October 9, 2007 }} with Naomi Klein on Democracy Now! In his review of Conscience of a Liberal, the liberal journalist and author Michael Tomasky credited Krugman with a commitment "to accurate history even when some fudging might be in order for the sake of political expediency". In a review for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David M. Kennedy stated: "Krugman's chapter on the imperative need for health care reform is the best in this book, a rueful reminder of the kind of skilled and accessible economic analysis of which he is capable".[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/books/review/Kennedy-t.html "Malefactors of Megawealth"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806151144/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/books/review/Kennedy-t.html |date=August 6, 2016 }} David M. Kennedy

In late 2008, Krugman published a substantial updating of an earlier work, entitled The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. In the book, he discusses the failure of the United States regulatory system to keep pace with a financial system increasingly out-of-control, and the causes of and possible ways to contain the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. In 2012, Krugman published End This Depression Now!, a book which argues that looking at the available historical economic data, fiscal cuts and austerity measures only deprive the economy of valuable funds that can circulate and further add to a poor economy – people cannot spend, and markets cannot thrive if there is not enough consumption and there cannot be sufficient consumption if there is large unemployment. He argues that while it is necessary to cut debt, it is the worst time to do so in an economy that has just suffered the most severe of financial shocks, and must be done instead when an economy is near full-employment when the private sector can withstand the burden of decreased government spending and austerity. Failure to stimulate the economy either by public or private sectors will only unnecessarily lengthen the current economic depression and make it worse.{{cite news|title=Paul Krugman's Prescription For A 'Depression'|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/04/27/151473654/paul-krugmans-prescription-for-a-depression|work=NPR Books|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=May 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509153543/http://www.npr.org/2012/04/27/151473654/paul-krugmans-prescription-for-a-depression|archive-date=May 9, 2012|url-status=live}}

Martin Wolf has written that Krugman is both the "most hated and most admired columnist in the US".{{cite news|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/022acf50-a4d1-11e1-9a94-00144feabdc0.html|title= Lunch with the FT: Paul Krugman|newspaper=Financial Times|author= Martin Wolf|date= May 24, 2012|access-date= 2012-05-29|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120528173702/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/022acf50-a4d1-11e1-9a94-00144feabdc0.html|archive-date= May 28, 2012|url-status= live|author-link= Martin Wolf}}

Economist J. Peter Neary has noted that Krugman "has written on a wide range of topics, always combining one of the best prose styles in the profession with an ability to construct elegant, insightful and useful models".{{cite journal |last1 = Neary |first1 = J. Peter |author-link = J. Peter Neary |year = 2009 |title = Putting the 'New' into New Trade Theory: Paul Krugman's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics |url = http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/working_papers/paper423.pdf |journal = Scandinavian Journal of Economics |volume = 111 |issue = 2 |pages = 217–50 |doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9442.2009.01562.x |s2cid = 46114198 |access-date = April 6, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160923200943/http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/working_papers/paper423.pdf |archive-date = September 23, 2016 |url-status = live }} Neary added that "no discussion of his work could fail to mention his transition from Academic Superstar to Public Intellectual. Through his extensive writings, including a regular column for The New York Times, monographs and textbooks at every level, and books on economics and current affairs for the general public ... he has probably done more than any other writer to explain economic principles to a wide audience." Krugman has been described as the most controversial economist in his generation{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/china+the+financial+nexus++krugman/109620 |title="China the financial nexus" – Krugman |publisher=Channel4.com |access-date=2011-10-04}} and according to Michael Tomasky since 1992 he has moved "from being a center-left scholar to being a liberal polemicist".

From the mid-1990s onwards, Krugman wrote for Fortune (1997–99)Princeton Weekly Bulletin, October 20, 2008, [https://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/volume98/issue07/krugman/ "Biography of Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225221/http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/volume98/issue07/krugman/ |date=March 3, 2016 }}, 98(7) and Slate (1996–99), and then for The Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, The Economist, Harper's, and Washington Monthly. In this period Krugman critiqued various positions commonly taken on economic issues from across the political spectrum, from protectionism and opposition to the World Trade Organization on the left to supply-side economics on the right.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Krugman praised Bill Clinton's economic plan in The New York Times, and Clinton's campaign used some of Krugman's work on income inequality. At the time, it was considered likely that Clinton would offer him a position in the new administration, but allegedly Krugman's volatility and outspokenness caused Clinton to look elsewhere.{{cite magazine|title=A Nobel-Bound Economist Punctures the CW – and Not a Few Big-Name Washington Egos|last=Hirsh|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Hirsh (journalist)|date=March 4, 1996|magazine=Newsweek|access-date=October 13, 2008|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/101625|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219154119/http://www.newsweek.com/id/101625|archive-date=December 19, 2009|url-status=live}} Krugman later said that he was "temperamentally unsuited for that kind of role. You have to be very good at people skills, biting your tongue when people say silly things."New Statesman, February 16, 2004, [http://www.newstatesman.com/200402160018 "NS Profile – Paul Krugman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203114834/http://www.newstatesman.com/200402160018 |date=December 3, 2008 }} In a Fresh Dialogues interview, Krugman added, "you have to be reasonably organized ... I can move into a pristine office and within three days it will look like a grenade went off."{{cite web |url=http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/12/09/paul-krugman-transcript-will-climate-legislation-kill-the-economy/ |title=Fresh Dialogues interview with Alison van Diggelen, November 2009 |publisher=Freshdialogues.com |date=December 9, 2009 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214100905/http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/12/09/paul-krugman-transcript-will-climate-legislation-kill-the-economy/ |archive-date=December 14, 2009 |url-status=live }}

In 1999, near the height of the dot com boom, The New York Times approached Krugman to write a bi-weekly column on "the vagaries of business and economics in an age of prosperity". His first columns in 2000 addressed business and economic issues, but as the 2000 US presidential campaign progressed, Krugman increasingly focused on George W. Bush's policy proposals. According to Krugman, this was partly due to "the silence of the media – those 'liberal media' conservatives complain about ..." Krugman accused Bush of repeatedly misrepresenting his proposals, and criticized the proposals themselves. After Bush's election, and his perseverance with his proposed tax cut in the midst of the slump (which Krugman argued would do little to help the economy but substantially raise the fiscal deficit), Krugman's columns grew angrier and more focused on the administration. As Alan Blinder put it in 2002, "There's been a kind of missionary quality to his writing since then ... He's trying to stop something now, using the power of the pen." Partly as a result, Krugman's twice-weekly column on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times has made him, according to Nicholas Confessore, "the most important political columnist in America ... he is almost alone in analyzing the most important story in politics in recent years – the seamless melding of corporate, class, and political party interests at which the Bush administration excels."{{cite web|last=Confessore|first=Nicholas|title=Comparative Advantage|work=The Washington Monthly|date=December 2002|access-date=February 5, 2007|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.confessore.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206044322/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.confessore.html|archive-date=February 6, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} In an interview in late 2009, Krugman said his missionary zeal had changed in the post-Bush era and he described the Obama administration as "good guys but not as forceful as I'd like ... When I argue with them in my column this is a serious discussion. We really are in effect speaking across the transom here."{{cite web |url=http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/12/09/paul-krugman-transcript-will-climate-legislation-kill-the-economy/ |title=Fresh Dialogues interview with Alison van Diggelen |publisher=Freshdialogues.com |date=December 9, 2009 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214100905/http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/12/09/paul-krugman-transcript-will-climate-legislation-kill-the-economy/ |archive-date=December 14, 2009 |url-status=live }} Krugman says he's more effective at driving change outside the administration than inside it, "now, I'm trying to make this progressive moment in American history a success. So that's where I'm pushing."

Krugman's columns have drawn criticism as well as praise. A 2003 article in The Economist{{cite news|last=(unattributed)|title=The one-handed economist|newspaper=The Economist|date=November 2003}} questioned Krugman's "growing tendency to attribute all the world's ills to George Bush", citing critics who felt that "his relentless partisanship is getting in the way of his argument" and claiming errors of economic and political reasoning in his columns. Daniel Okrent, a former The New York Times ombudsman, in his farewell column, criticized Krugman for what he said was "the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults".{{cite news | last = Okrent | first = Daniel | title = 13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did | work=The New York Times | date = May 22, 2005 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/weekinreview/22okrent.html | access-date = August 16, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110512031249/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/weekinreview/22okrent.html | archive-date = May 12, 2011 | url-status = live }}

Krugman's New York Times blog was "The Conscience of a Liberal", devoted largely to economics and politics.

Five days after 9/11 terrorist attacks, Krugman argued in his column that the calamity was "partly self-inflicted", citing poor pay and training for airport security driven by the transfer of responsibility for airport security from government to airlines. His column provoked an angry response and The New York Times was flooded with complaints. According to Larissa MacFarquhar of The New Yorker, while some people{{Who|date=November 2011}} thought that he was too partisan to be a columnist for The New York Times, he was revered on the left.{{cite magazine | url=https://newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar?currentPage=all | magazine=The New Yorker | author=Larissa MacFarquhar | date=March 1, 2010 | access-date=October 5, 2011 | title=The Deflationist: How Paul Krugman found politics | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010115620/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar?currentPage=all | archive-date=October 10, 2011 | url-status=live }}{{cite news |author=Paul Krugman |title=Reckonings; Paying the Price |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/opinion/reckonings-paying-the-price.html |work=The Conscience of a Liberal |date=September 16, 2001 |access-date=October 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114050850/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/opinion/reckonings-paying-the-price.html |archive-date=January 14, 2011 |url-status=live }} Similarly, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 on the United States Krugman again provoked a controversy by accusing on his New York Times blog former U.S. President George W. Bush and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani of rushing "to cash in on the horror" after the attacks and describing the anniversary as "an occasion for shame".{{cite news |author=Paul Krugman |title=The Years of Shame |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/ |work=The Conscience of a Liberal |date=September 11, 2011 |access-date=October 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008152353/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/ |archive-date=October 8, 2011 |url-status=live }}{{cite news | url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63404.html | work=Politico | author=Tim Mak | date=September 13, 2011 | access-date=October 5, 2011 | title=Paul Krugman defenders attacked by conservative bloggers | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925204414/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63404.html | archive-date=September 25, 2011 | url-status=live }}

Krugman was noteworthy for his opposition to the 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. On January 19, 2016, he wrote an article which criticized Bernie Sanders for his perceived lack of political realism, compared Sanders' plans for healthcare and financial reform unfavorably to those of Hillary Clinton, and cited criticisms of Sanders from other liberal policy wonks like Mike Konczal and Ezra Klein.{{cite news|author=Paul Krugman|title=Weakened at Bernie's|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/weakened-at-bernies/|work=The Conscience of a Liberal|date=January 19, 2016|access-date=April 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529213721/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/weakened-at-bernies/|archive-date=May 29, 2017|url-status=live}} Later, Krugman wrote an article which accused Sanders of "[going] for easy slogans over hard thinking" and attacking Hillary Clinton in a way that was "just plain dishonest".{{cite news|author=Paul Krugman|title=Sanders Over the Edge|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/opinion/sanders-over-the-edge.html?_r=0|date=April 8, 2016|access-date=April 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822064859/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/opinion/sanders-over-the-edge.html?_r=0|archive-date=August 22, 2017|url-status=live}}

On the 12 July 2016, Krugman tweeted "leprechaun economics", in response to Central Statistics Office (Ireland) data that 2015 GDP grew 26.3% and 2015 GNP grew 18.7%. The leprechaun economics affair (proved in 2018 to be Apple restructuring its double Irish subsidiaries), led to the Central Bank of Ireland introducing a new economic statistic, Modified gross national income (or GNI*) to better measure the Irish economy (2016 Irish GDP is 143% of 2016 Irish GNI*). The term leprechaun economics has since been used by Krugman,{{cite web|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/leprechaun-economics-and-neo-lafferism/|title=Leprechaun Economics and Neo-Lafferism|work=The New York Times|date=8 November 2017|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430234132/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/leprechaun-economics-and-neo-lafferism/|archive-date=April 30, 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/leprechauns-of-eastern-europe/|title=Leprechauns of Eastern Europe|work=The New York Times|date=4 December 2017|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213135733/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/leprechauns-of-eastern-europe/|archive-date=February 13, 2018|url-status=live}} and others,{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-19/the-u-s-has-a-leprechaun-economy-effect-too|title=The U.S. Has a 'Leprechaun Economy' Effect, Too|publisher=Bloomberg L.P.|date=19 July 2017|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421094509/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-19/the-u-s-has-a-leprechaun-economy-effect-too|archive-date=April 21, 2018|url-status=live|newspaper=Bloomberg.com}}{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/housing-data-reveals-return-of-leprechaun-economics-1.3056546?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fhousing-data-reveals-return-of-leprechaun-economics-1.3056546|title=Housing data reveals return of 'leprechaun economics'|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=21 April 2017|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320043650/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/housing-data-reveals-return-of-leprechaun-economics-1.3056546?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A//www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/housing-data-reveals-return-of-leprechaun-economics-1.3056546|archive-date=March 20, 2018|url-status=live}} to describe distorted/unsound economic data.

Krugman's use of the term leprechaun to refer to Ireland and its people has raised rebuke. In June 2021, Krugman wrote an article titled, "Yellen's New Alliance Against Leprechauns".{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/opinion/yellens-new-alliance-against-leprechauns.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/opinion/yellens-new-alliance-against-leprechauns.html |archive-date=2021-12-28 |url-access=limited | author=Paul Krugman | title=Yellen's New Alliance Against Leprechauns | website=The New York Times | date=June 7, 2021 | access-date=12 June 2021}}{{cbignore}} Following the article, the Irish Ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall, wrote a letter to his publisher saying, "This is not the first time your columnist has used the word 'leprechaun' when referring to Ireland, and I see it as my duty to point out that this represents an unacceptable slur."{{cite web | url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0612/1227743-columnist-leprechaun-us-ireland/ | author=Brian O'Donovan | author-link=Brian O'Donovan | title=NYT columnist's 'leprechaun' reference criticised | website=RTÉ News | date=June 12, 2021 | publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann | access-date=12 June 2021}}

Krugman harshly criticized the Trump administration.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/when-the-fire-comes.html |title=When the Fire Comes |author=Paul Krugman |date=February 10, 2017 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213012141/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/when-the-fire-comes.html |archive-date=February 13, 2017 |url-status=live }} He has also remarked several times on how Trump tempts him to assume the worst, such that he has to be careful to check his personal beliefs against the weight of evidence.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In January 2025, speaking on his departure from The New York Times the previous month, Krugman said that he found the back-and-forth with his editor had become intrusive and tiresome. He cited "toning down [his] voice" and "pressure for what I considered false equivalence" as complaints, as well as a desire to publish him less often by removing his newsletter. The Columbia Journalism Review reported that he refused an offer to reduce his regular columns from twice to once a week in exchange for keeping his newsletter.

In a 1994 Foreign Affairs article, Paul Krugman argued that it was a myth that the economic successes of the East Asian 'tigers' constituted an economic miracle. He argued that their rise was fueled by mobilizing resources and that their growth rates would inevitably slow.{{cite journal |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=December 1994 |title=The Myth of Asia's Miracle |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=73 |issue=6 |pages=62–78 |doi=10.2307/20046929 |jstor=20046929 |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19941101faessay5151/paul-krugman/the-myth-of-asia-s-miracle.html |access-date=December 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016011308/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19941101faessay5151/paul-krugman/the-myth-of-asia-s-miracle.html |archive-date=October 16, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} His article helped popularize the argument made by Lawrence Lau and Alwyn Young, among others, that the growth of economies in East Asia was not the result of new and original economic models, but rather from high capital investment and increasing labor force participation, and that total factor productivity had not increased. Krugman argued that in the long term, only increasing total factor productivity can lead to sustained economic growth. Krugman's article was highly criticized in many Asian countries when it first appeared, and subsequent studies disputed some of Krugman's conclusions. However, it also stimulated a great deal of research, and may have caused the Singapore government to provide incentives for technological progress.{{cite book|last=Van Den Berg |first=Hendrik |author2=Joshua J. Lewer |title=International Trade and Economic Growth |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2006 |pages=98–105|isbn=978-0-7656-1803-0}}

During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Krugman advocated currency controls as a way to mitigate the crisis. Writing in a Fortune magazine article, he suggested exchange controls as "a solution so unfashionable, so stigmatized, that hardly anyone has dared suggest it".{{cite journal|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=September 7, 1998|title=Saving Asia: It's Time To Get Radical The IMF plan not only has failed to revive Asia's troubled economies but has worsened the situation. It's now time for some painful medicine.|journal=Fortune|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/09/07/247884/index.htm|access-date=July 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402003606/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/09/07/247884/index.htm|archive-date=April 2, 2010|url-status=live}} Malaysia was the only country that adopted such controls, and although the Malaysian government credited its rapid economic recovery on currency controls, the relationship is disputed.{{cite news |last=Landler |first=Mark |date=September 4, 1999 |title=Malaysia Wins Its Economic Gamble |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/090499malaysia-econ.html |access-date=July 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825084632/http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/090499malaysia-econ.html |archive-date=August 25, 2013 |url-status=live }} An empirical study found that the Malaysian policies produced faster economic recovery and smaller declines in employment and real wages.{{cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Ethan |author2=Dani Rodrik |title=Did the Malaysian Capital Controls Work? |date=February 2001 |series=NBER Working Paper |issue= 8142 |doi=10.3386/w8142 |doi-access=free }} Krugman later stated that the controls might not have been necessary at the time they were applied, but that nevertheless "Malaysia has proved a point – namely, that controlling capital in a crisis is at least feasible."[http://www.slate.com/id/35534 "Capital Control Freaks: How Malaysia got away with economic heresy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827035835/http://www.slate.com/id/35534 |date=August 27, 2009 }}, Slate, September 27, 1999. Retrieved 08-25-2009 Krugman more recently pointed out that emergency capital controls have even been endorsed by the IMF, and are no longer considered radical policy.{{cite journal |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 4, 2010 |title=Malaysian Memories |journal=The New York Times |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/malaysian-memories/ |access-date=March 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309020107/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/malaysian-memories/ |archive-date=March 9, 2010 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=December 4, 2012 |title=The IMF and Capital Controls |journal=The New York Times |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/the-imf-and-capital-controls/ |access-date=December 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121206072436/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/the-imf-and-capital-controls/ |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2012/111412.pdf |title="The Liberalization And Management Of Capital Flows: An Institutional View" November 14, 2012 |access-date=December 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114032654/http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2012/111412.pdf |archive-date=January 14, 2013 |url-status=live }}

In the early 2000s, Krugman repeatedly criticized the Bush tax cuts, both before and after they were enacted. Krugman argued that the tax cuts enlarged the budget deficit without improving the economy, and that they enriched the wealthy – worsening income distribution in the US.{{cite news|last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 21, 2003 |title=Who Lost the U.S. Budget? |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/21/opinion/21KRUG.html |access-date=June 24, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725084400/http://nytimes.com/2003/03/21/opinion/21KRUG.html |archive-date=July 25, 2009 }}{{cite magazine |last=Dana |first=Will |date=March 23, 2003 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/25146816/voodoo_economics |title=Voodoo Economics |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=August 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829122522/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/25146816/voodoo_economics |archive-date=August 29, 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite journal |url=http://dailyuw.com/2003/10/9/krugman-blasts-bush/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009000849/http://dailyuw.com/2003/10/9/krugman-blasts-bush/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 9, 2009 |date=October 9, 2003 |title=Krugman blasts Bush |journal=The Daily of the University of Washington |access-date=August 1, 2009 |last=Lehrke |first=Dylan Lee }}{{cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=October 7, 2001 |title=Fuzzy Math Returns |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/07/opinion/07KRUG.html |access-date=August 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829143626/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/07/opinion/07KRUG.html |archive-date=August 29, 2009 |url-status=live }} Krugman advocated lower interest rates (to promote investment and spending on housing and other durable goods), and increased government spending on infrastructure, military, and unemployment benefits, arguing that these policies would have a larger stimulus effect, and unlike permanent tax cuts, would only temporarily increase the budget deficit.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Dubya's Double Dip?|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=Aug 2, 2002|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=Jul 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601093238/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|archive-date=June 1, 2012|url-status=live}} In addition, he was against Bush's proposal to privatize social security.{{cite news|url=http://simons-rock.edu/students-families/commencement/paul-krugman-speech.php|title=Paul Krugman Commencement Speech?|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=May 21, 2016|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623162121/http://simons-rock.edu/students-families/commencement/paul-krugman-speech.php|archive-date=June 23, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

In August 2005, after Alan Greenspan expressed concern over housing markets, Krugman criticized Greenspan's earlier reluctance to regulate the mortgage and related financial markets, arguing that "[he's] like a man who suggests leaving the barn door ajar, and then – after the horse is gone – delivers a lecture on the importance of keeping your animals properly locked up."{{cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=August 29, 2005 |title=Greenspan and the Bubble |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/opinion/29krugman.html |access-date=December 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512031135/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/opinion/29krugman.html |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |url-status=live }} Krugman has repeatedly expressed his view that Greenspan and Phil Gramm are the two individuals most responsible for causing the subprime crisis. Krugman points to Greenspan and Gramm for the key roles they played in keeping derivatives, financial markets, and investment banks unregulated, and to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed Great Depression era safeguards that prevented commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies from merging.{{cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 24, 2008 |title=Financial Crisis Should Be at Center of Election Debate |journal=Spiegel Online |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,543074,00.html |access-date=July 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018033253/http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,543074,00.html |archive-date=October 18, 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 24, 2008 |title=Taming the Beast |journal=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/opinion/24krugman.html |access-date=July 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602145505/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/opinion/24krugman.html |archive-date=June 2, 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 29, 2008 |title=The Gramm connection |journal=The New York Times |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/the-gramm-connection/ |access-date=June 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422055923/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/the-gramm-connection/ |archive-date=April 22, 2009 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal|last=Lerer|first=Lisa|date=March 28, 2008|title=McCain guru linked to subprime crisis|journal=Politico|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9246.html|access-date=June 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221144450/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9246.html|archive-date=February 21, 2009|url-status=live}}

Krugman also was critical of some of the Obama administration's economic policies. He criticized the Obama stimulus plan as being too small and inadequate given the size of the economy and the banking rescue plan as misdirected; Krugman wrote in The New York Times: "an overwhelming majority [of the American public] believes that the government is spending too much to help large financial institutions. This suggests that the administration's money-for-nothing financial policy will eventually deplete its political capital."Paul Krugman. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html "Behind the Curve"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529182642/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html |date=May 29, 2017 }}. The New York Times. March 9, 2009. In particular, he considered the Obama administration's actions to prop up the US financial system in 2009 to be impractical and unduly favorable to Wall Street bankers.Evan Thomas, Newsweek, April 6, 2009, [http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393 "Obama's Nobel Headache"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330210842/http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393 |date=March 30, 2009 }} In anticipation of President Obama's Job Summit in December 2009, Krugman said in a Fresh Dialogues interview, "This jobs summit can't be an empty exercise ... he can't come out with a proposal for $10 or $20 Billion of stuff because people will view that as a joke. There has to be a significant job proposal ... I have in mind something like $300 Billion."{{cite web |url=http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/11/13/paul-krugman-obama-job-summit-transcript/ |title=Fresh Dialogues interview with Alison van Diggelen, November 2009 |publisher=Freshdialogues.com |date=November 13, 2009 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220035314/http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/11/13/paul-krugman-obama-job-summit-transcript/ |archive-date=December 20, 2009 |url-status=live }}

Krugman has criticized China's exchange rate policy, which he believes to be a significant drag on global economic recovery from the Late-2000s recession, and he has advocated a "surcharge" on Chinese imports to the US in response.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html |title=Taking on China |date=March 15, 2010 |author=Paul Krugman |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322204544/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html |archive-date=March 22, 2010 |url-status=live }} Jeremy Warner of The Daily Telegraph accused Krugman of advocating a return to self-destructive protectionism.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/7483177/Paul-Krugman-the-Nobel-prize-winner-who-threatens-the-world.html |title=Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winner who threatens the world |author=Jeremy Warner |date=March 19, 2010 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=March 22, 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322231742/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/7483177/Paul-Krugman-the-Nobel-prize-winner-who-threatens-the-world.html |archive-date=March 22, 2010 |url-status=live }}

In April 2010, as the Senate began considering new financial regulations, Krugman argued that the regulations should not only regulate financial innovation, but also tax financial industry profits and remuneration. He cited a paper by Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny released the previous week, which concludes that most innovation was in fact about "providing investors with false substitutes for [traditional] assets like bank deposits", and once investors realize the sheer number of securities that are unsafe a "flight to safety" occurs which necessarily leads to "financial fragility".{{cite news | author = Krugman, Paul | title = Don't cry for Wall Street | work=The New York Times | date = April 23, 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23krugman.html | access-date = April 27, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100426120833/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23krugman.html | archive-date = April 26, 2010 | url-status = live }}{{cite journal |author = Shleifer, Andrei |author2 = Vishny, Robert |author3 = Gennaioli, Nicola |title = Financial Innovation and Financial Fragility |date = April 12, 2010 |url = http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/financial_innovation_fragility.april12.pdf |access-date = April 27, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100506040539/http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/financial_innovation_fragility.april12.pdf |archive-date = May 6, 2010 |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}

In his June 28, 2010, column in The New York Times, in light of the recent G-20 Toronto Summit, Krugman criticized world leaders for agreeing to halve deficits by 2013. Krugman claimed that these efforts could lead the global economy into the early stages of a "third depression" and leave "millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs". He advocated instead the continued stimulus of economies to foster greater growth.{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=The Third Depression |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/opinion/28krugman.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 28, 2010 |access-date=March 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411051630/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/opinion/28krugman.html |archive-date=April 11, 2012 |url-status=live }}

In a 2014 review of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century he stated we are in a Second Gilded Age.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age|title=Why We're in a New Gilded Age by Paul Krugman|magazine=nybooks.com|date=2014-05-08|access-date=April 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419210352/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/|archive-date=April 19, 2014|url-status=live}}

Krugman identifies as a Keynesian{{Cite news|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/samuel-brittans-recipe-for-recovery/|title=Samuel Brittan's recipe for recovery|date=October 16, 2009|last=Krugman|first=Paul|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207041505/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/samuel-brittans-recipe-for-recovery/|archive-date=February 7, 2018|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/why-am-i-a-keynesian/o|title=Why am I a Keynesian?|date=June 6, 2015|access-date=June 8, 2015|last=Krugman|first=Paul|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and a saltwater economist,{{Cite news|title=The lessons of 1979–82|last=Krugman|first=Paul|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 29, 2009|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/the-lessons-of-1979-82/|access-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206144536/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/the-lessons-of-1979-82/|archive-date=December 6, 2016|url-status=live}} and he has criticized the freshwater school on macroeconomics.

{{Cite news|title=The freshwater backlash (boring)|last=Krugman|first=Paul|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 23, 2009|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/the-freshwater-backlash-boring/|access-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614061159/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/the-freshwater-backlash-boring/|archive-date=June 14, 2018|url-status=live}}

Krugman, Paul. (2009-9-2). [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html?pagewanted=4&em "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717053811/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html?pagewanted=4&em |date=July 17, 2016 }}. The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2009. Although he has used New Keynesian theory in his work, he has also criticized it for lacking predictive power and for hewing to ideas like the efficient-market hypothesis and rational expectations. Since the 1990s, he has promoted the practical use of the IS-LM model of the neoclassical synthesis, pointing out its relative simplicity compared to New Keynesian models, and its continued currency in economic policy analysis.{{cite news | title = Who You Gonna Bet On, Yet Again (Somewhat Wonkish) | work=Conscience of a Liberal (blog) | first = Paul | last = Krugman | publisher =The New York Times | date = August 30, 2011 | access-date = 2011-11-18 | url = https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/who-you-gonna-bet-on-yet-again-somewhat-wonkish/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015606/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/who-you-gonna-bet-on-yet-again-somewhat-wonkish/ | archive-date = November 7, 2017 | url-status = live }}{{cite web | title = There's something about macro | first = Paul | last = Krugman | publisher = MIT | access-date = 2011-11-18 | url = http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/islm.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111107134806/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/islm.html | archive-date = November 7, 2011 | url-status = live }}{{cite web | title = Mr. Keynes and the Moderns | first = Paul | last = Krugman | date = June 21, 2011 | publisher = VOX (originally for Cambridge conference commemorating the 75th anniversary of the publication of The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money) | format = PDF | access-date = 2011-11-18 | url = http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/6668 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120529231626/http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/6668 | archive-date = May 29, 2012 | url-status = live }}

During the Great Recession, he remarked that he is "gravitating towards a Keynes-Fisher-Minsky view of macroeconomics".{{Cite book |title=Actually existing Minsky|last=Krugman|first=Paul|work=The New York Times|date=May 19, 2009| url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/actually-existing-minsky/|access-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825233613/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/actually-existing-minsky/|archive-date=August 25, 2017|url-status=live}}

Post-Keynesian observers cite commonalities between Krugman's views and those of the Post-Keynesian school,{{cite web|date=August 18, 2009|title=Keynes's Relevance and Krugman's Economics|first=Felipe C.|last=Rezende|url=http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/08/keyness-relevance-and-krugmans.html|access-date=December 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104094413/http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/08/keyness-relevance-and-krugmans.html|archive-date=November 4, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|date=July 19, 2009|title=Krugman's New Cross Confirms It: Job Guarantee Policies Are Needed as Macroeconomic Stabilizers|first=Daniel Negreiros|last=Conceicao|url=http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/07/krugmans-new-cross-confirms-it-job.html|access-date=December 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826030139/http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/07/krugmans-new-cross-confirms-it-job.html|archive-date=August 26, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

{{cite web|date=July 18, 2009|title=Nobel prize winner sounding a trifle modern moneyish|first=Bill|last=Mitchell|url=http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=3574|access-date=July 10, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516105220/http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=3574|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=live}}

although Krugman has been critical of some Post-Keynesian economists such as John Kenneth Galbraith – whose works The New Industrial State (1967) and Economics in Perspective (1987) Krugman has referred to as not "real economic theory" and "remarkably ill-informed" respectively.{{cite book|last=Krugman|first=Paul|year=1994|title=Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations|title-link=Peddling Prosperity|place=Scranton, PA|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/peddlingprosperi0000krug_1995/page/10 10–15]|isbn=978-0393312928}} In recent academic work, he has collaborated with Gauti Eggertsson on a New Keynesian model of debt-overhang and debt-driven slumps, inspired by the writings of Irving Fisher, Hyman Minsky, and Richard Koo. Their work argues that during a debt-driven slump, the "paradox of toil", together with the paradox of flexibility, can exacerbate a liquidity trap, reducing demand and employment.{{Cite journal |last1 = Eggertsson |first1 = Gauti B. |last2 = Krugman |first2 = Paul |title = Debt, Deleveraging, and the Liquidity Trap: A Fisher-Minsky-Koo Approach |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |date = June 14, 2012 |volume = 127 |issue = 3 |pages = 1469–513 |url = http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/debt_deleveraging_ge_pk.pdf |doi = 10.1093/qje/qjs023 |access-date = October 3, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130924063733/http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/debt_deleveraging_ge_pk.pdf |archive-date = September 24, 2013 |url-status = live }}

Krugman's support for free trade in the 1980s–1990s provoked some ire from the anti-globalization movement.{{Cite book |last1 = Dale |first1 = Leigh |last2 = Gilbert |first2 = Helen |title = Economies of representation, 1790–2000: colonialism and commerce |publisher = Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year = 2007 |pages = 200–01 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BqLM4GitusQC&q=krugman+anti-globalization&pg=PA200 |isbn = 978-0-7546-6257-0 }} "[Krugman and Obstfeld] seem to want to shame students into believing that there are no well-grounded arguments against coercing poor countries into free trade. ... This is poor logic, and pernicious insensitivity."{{Cite book |last = Glasbeek |first = H. J. |title = Wealth by stealth: corporate crime, corporate law, and the perversion of democracy |publisher = Between The Lines |year = 2002 |page = [https://archive.org/details/wealthbystealthc0000glas/page/258 258] |isbn = 978-1-896357-41-6 |url = https://archive.org/details/wealthbystealthc0000glas|url-access = registration |quote = krugman anti-globalization. }} "As E.P. Thompson once noted, there are always willing experts and opinion leaders, such as Friedman and Krugman, to give a patina of legitimacy to the claims of the powerful [with their] ill-concealed cheer-leading . ... " In 1987 he quipped that, "If there were an Economist's Creed, it would surely contain the affirmations 'I understand the Principle of Comparative Advantage' and 'I advocate Free Trade'."{{cite book|last=Dev Gupta |first=Satya |title=The political economy of globalization |publisher=Springer |year=1997 |page=61|isbn=978-0-7923-9903-2}}{{cite journal|last=Krugman|first=Paul R.|year=1987|title=Is Free Trade Passe?|journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=1|issue=2|pages=131–44|doi=10.1257/jep.1.2.131|jstor=1942985|doi-access=free}} However, Krugman argues in the same article that, given the findings of New Trade Theory, "[free trade] has shifted from optimum to reasonable rule of thumb ... it can never again be asserted as the policy that economic theory tells us is always right." In the article, Krugman comes out in favor of free trade given the enormous political costs of actively engaging in strategic trade policy and because there is no clear method for a government to discover which industries will ultimately yield positive returns. He also notes that increasing returns and strategic trade theory do not disprove the underlying truth of comparative advantage. In 1994, Krugman criticized the notion of national competitiveness, particularly comparisons of nations as competing corporations. Krugman noted that a country's economic success does not need to come at the expense of a rival nation, as if they were two competing companies selling similar products. Instead, foreign nations typically serve as export markets for a nation's goods, as well as suppliers of useful imports.{{Cite web |url=https://walkerd.people.charleston.edu/Readings/Trade/KrugmanDangerous.pdf |title=Competitiveness: A Dangerous Obsession |date=March 1994 |last=Krugman |first=Paul }}

In the midst of the 2009 Great Recession, Krugman made a significant departure from his general support for free trade, entertaining the idea of a 25% tariff on Chinese imports as a retaliation for China's policy of maintaining a low value for the renminbi, which many saw as hostile currency manipulation, artificially making their exports more competitive.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html?src=me |title=Opinion | Taking on China and Its Currency |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422121957/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html%3Fsrc%3Dme |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 14, 2010 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }}

In 2015, Krugman noted his ambivalence about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the agreement was not mainly about trade and, "whatever you may say about the benefits of free trade, most of those benefits have already been realized" [by existing agreements].{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/paul-krugman-trade-and-trust.html?_r=0 |title=Trade and Trust |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 22, 2015 |author=Paul Krugman |access-date=June 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527225837/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/paul-krugman-trade-and-trust.html?_r=0 |archive-date=May 27, 2015 |url-status=live }}

After the 2016 elections, and Trump's moves towards protectionism, he wrote that while protectionism can make economies less efficient and reduce long-term growth, it would not directly cause recessions. He noted that if there is a trade war, imports would decrease as much as exports, so employment should not be strongly impacted, at least in the medium to long run.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/opinion/when-fallacies-collide.html |title=Opinion | when Fallacies Collide |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422121957/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/opinion/when-fallacies-collide.html |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 7, 2016 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }} He believes that the US should not repeat Reagan's 1981 policy on taxes and quotas on imported products,{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/opinion/making-the-rust-belt-rustier.html |title=Opinion | Making the Rust Belt Rustier |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422122010/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/opinion/making-the-rust-belt-rustier.html |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 27, 2017 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }} as even if it does not produce a recession, protectionism would shock "value chains" and disrupt jobs and communities in the same way as free trade in the past. In addition, other countries would take retaliatory measures against US exports.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/and-the-trade-war-came.html |title=Opinion | and the Trade War Came |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422121950/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/and-the-trade-war-came.html |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 26, 2016 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }} Krugman recommended against the abandonment of NAFTA, because it could cause economic losses and disruptions to businesses, jobs, and communities.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/trump-trade-and-tantrums.html |title=Opinion | Trump, Trade and Tantrums |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422121955/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/trump-trade-and-tantrums.html |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 19, 2017 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }}

In the late 2010s, Krugman admitted that the models that scholars used to measure the impact of globalization in the 1990s underestimated the effect on jobs and inequality in developed countries such as the US.{{cite news |title=Economists on the Run |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/22/economists-globalization-trade-paul-krugman-china/ |work=Foreign Policy |date=October 22, 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul |title=What Economists (Including Me) Got Wrong About Globalization |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-10/inequality-globalization-and-the-missteps-of-1990s-economics |access-date=8 August 2020 |work=www.bloomberg.com |agency=Bloomberg|date=October 10, 2019}} He noted that although free trade has harmed some industries, communities, and some workers, it remains a win-win system overall, enriching both parties to the agreement at the national level; a trade war is equivalently negative for the nations involved, even while it may benefit some individuals or industries within each nation.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/trump-trade-war.html |title=Opinion | Oh! What a Lovely Trade War |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422122017/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/trump-trade-war.html |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 3, 2017 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul }}

In 2006, Krugman wrote: "[i]mmigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants. That's just supply and demand: we're talking about large increases in the number of low-skill workers relative to other inputs into production, so it's inevitable that this means a fall in wages ... the fiscal burden of low-wage immigrants is also pretty clear," citing an estimate of 0.25% of GDP from the National Research Council.{{Cite news | url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/notes-on-immigration/|title=Notes on Immigration|work=The New York Times|date=March 27, 2006|first=Paul|last=Krugman}} However, in 2024, he reported that “most labor economists now believe that immigrants don’t do much head-to-head competition with native-born workers; they bring different skills and take different jobs. And the past few years, with elevated immigration, have also been an era of exceptional growth in wages for the worst paid.”{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/opinion/immigration-unemployment-inflation.html |title=Immigration Is Great for Jobs, Actually|date=July 23, 2024|work=The New York Times|first=Paul|last=Krugman}}

Krugman has called for a transition to a green economy.{{cite news |title=Building a Green Economy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 7, 2010}}{{cite news |title=The Bad Economics of Fossil Fuel Defenders |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/opinion/climate-change-republicans-economy.html |work=The New York Times|date=August 16, 2021}} He supported the Green New Deal,{{cite news |title=Hope for a Green New Year |author=Paul Krugman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opinion/green-new-deal-democrats.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 1, 2019 |page=A18}} asserting "I believe progressives should enthusiastically embrace the G.N.D.".{{Cite news|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=2019-04-11|title=Opinion {{!}} Purity vs. Pragmatism, Environment vs. Health|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/opinion/green-new-deal-medicare-for-all.html|access-date=2021-11-14|issn=0362-4331}} He said that a "Green New Deal stuff is investment. On that stuff, don't worry about paying for it. Debt as an issue is vastly overstated, and a lot of these things pay for themselves. Go ahead and just deficit finance it."{{cite news |title=Paul Krugman's 3-part test for deficit spending |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/13/21011742/paul-krugman-the-ezra-klein-show-democrats-green-new-deal-payment |work=Vox|date=December 13, 2019}} In 2021, he wrote that "we will almost surely have to put a price" on greenhouse gas emissions.{{cite news |title=Getting real about coal and climate |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/apr/24/paul-krugman-getting-real-about-coal-and-climate/ |work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette |date=April 24, 2021}} He criticized Democratic "moderates" and corporations "torpedoing efforts to avoid a civilization-threatening crisis because you want to hold down your tax bill".{{cite news |title=Biden's plan may be our last chance to avoid climate catastrophe |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/biden-s-plan-may-be-our-last-chance-to-avoid-climate-catastrophe-1.4674053 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=September 15, 2021}}

Krugman describes himself as liberal and has explained that he views the term "liberal" in the American context to mean "more or less what social democratic means in Europe". In a 2009 Newsweek article, Evan Thomas described Krugman as having "all the credentials of a ranking member of the East coast liberal establishment" but also as someone who is anti-establishment, a "scourge of the Bush administration", and a critic of the Obama administration. In 1996, Newsweek{{'s}} Michael Hirsh remarked, "Say this for Krugman: though an unabashed liberal ... he's ideologically colorblind. He savages the supply-siders of the Reagan–Bush era with the same glee as he does the 'strategic traders' of the Clinton administration."

Krugman has at times advocated free markets in contexts where they are often viewed as controversial. He has written against rent control and land-use restrictions in favor of market supply and demand,[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/07/opinion/reckonings-a-rent-affair.html Reckonings; A Rent Affair] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324003103/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/07/opinion/reckonings-a-rent-affair.html |date=March 24, 2017 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, June 7, 2000[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/inequality-and-the-city.html Inequality and the City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206082859/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/inequality-and-the-city.html |date=February 6, 2017 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, November 30, 2015 likened the opposition against free trade and globalization to the opposition against evolution via natural selection (1996),{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm |title=Ricardo's difficult idea |publisher=Web.mit.edu |date=1996 |access-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219023527/http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm |archive-date=December 19, 2008 |url-status=live }} opposed farm subsidies,[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E4D91730F934A35756C0A9649C8B63 True Blue Americans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074455/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E4D91730F934A35756C0A9649C8B63 |date=December 6, 2008 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 7, 2002 argued that sweatshops are preferable to unemployment,[http://www.slate.com/id/1918 In Praise of Cheap Labor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003221935/http://www.slate.com/id/1918 |date=October 3, 2008 }} by Paul Krugman, Slate, March 21, 1997 dismissed the case for living wages (1998),[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Living+Wage:+What+It+Is+and+Why+We+Need+It.-a021103427 Book review of Living Wage: What It Is and Why We Need It] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511121941/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Living+Wage:+What+It+Is+and+Why+We+Need+It.-a021103427 |date=May 11, 2011 }} Paul Krugman, Washington Monthly, September 1, 1998 and argued against mandates, subsidies, and tax breaks for ethanol (2000).[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E1DB1430F936A15755C0A9669C8B63 Driving Under the Influence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074304/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E1DB1430F936A15755C0A9669C8B63 |date=December 6, 2008 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, June 25, 2000 In 2003, he questioned the usefulness of NASA's manned space flights given the available technology and their high financial cost compared to their general benefits.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E4DF1138F937A35751C0A9659C8B63 A Failed Mission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074445/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E4DF1138F937A35751C0A9659C8B63 |date=December 6, 2008 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, February 4, 2003 Krugman has also criticized U.S. zoning laws{{cite news |work=The New York Times|title = The Texas Unmiracle |date = Aug 14, 2011 |author = Paul Krugman }} and European labor market regulation.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EFD6163CF93AA15750C0A9669C8B63 Reckonings; Pursuing Happiness] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074753/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EFD6163CF93AA15750C0A9669C8B63 |date=December 6, 2008 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, March 29, 2000[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E7DE1139F930A35756C0A9669C8B63 Reckonings; Blessed Are the Weak] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206074450/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E7DE1139F930A35756C0A9669C8B63 |date=December 6, 2008 }}, by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 3, 2000

Krugman endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Kaufman, S. [https://www.salon.com/2016/04/25/paul_krugman_only_hillary_clinton_save_the_american_economy_now/ Salon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120043008/https://www.salon.com/2016/04/25/paul_krugman_only_hillary_clinton_save_the_american_economy_now/ |date=January 20, 2019 }} July 9, 2016.

Krugman has criticized the Republican Party leadership for what he sees as a strategic (but largely tacit) reliance on racial divisions.{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=Republicans and Race |work=The New York Times |date=November 19, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/opinion/19krugman.html |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225055326/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/opinion/19krugman.html |archive-date=February 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=The Town Hall Mob |work=The New York Times |date=August 7, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07krugman.htm}}{{cite news |title=The Conscience of a Liberal: Book Review |first=William |last=Amponsah |work=Savannah Daily News |date=December 3, 2007}} In his Conscience of a Liberal, he wrote:

{{blockquote|The changing politics of race made it possible for a revived conservative movement, whose ultimate goal was to reverse the achievements of the New Deal, to win national elections – even though it supported policies that favored the interests of a narrow elite over those of middle- and lower-income Americans.{{cite news |first=Jay |last=Parini |author-link=Jay Parini |title=Review: The Conscience of a Liberal |work=The Guardian |date=March 22, 2008 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/22/politics1 |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510230311/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/22/politics1 |archive-date=May 10, 2017 |url-status=live }}}}

Krugman worked for Martin Feldstein when the latter was appointed chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan. He later wrote in an autobiographical essay, "It was, in a way, strange for me to be part of the Reagan Administration. I was then and still am an unabashed defender of the welfare state, which I regard as the most decent social arrangement yet devised."[https://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/incidents.html Incidents From My Career] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091416/http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/incidents.html |date=March 4, 2016 }}, by Paul Krugman, Princeton University Press, Retrieved December 10, 2008 Krugman found the time "thrilling, then disillusioning". He did not fit into the Washington political environment and was not tempted to stay on.

According to Krugman, Gordon Brown and his party were unfairly blamed for the 2008 financial crisis.{{cite news |title=Gordon the Unlucky |first=Paul |last=Krugman |date=June 7, 2009 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/opinion/08krugman.html |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717053902/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/opinion/08krugman.html |archive-date=July 17, 2016 |url-status=live }} He has also praised the former British prime minister, whom he described as "more impressive than any US politician" after a three-hour conversation with him.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2010/dec/23/gordon-brown-anthony-seldon-book |work=The Guardian |first=Andrew |last=Sparrow |title=Thirty new facts about Gordon Brown from Anthony Seldon's book |date=December 24, 2010 |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510230337/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2010/dec/23/gordon-brown-anthony-seldon-book |archive-date=May 10, 2017 |url-status=live }} Krugman asserted that Brown "defined the character of the worldwide financial rescue effort" and urged British voters not to support the opposition Conservative Party in the 2010 general election, arguing their Party Leader David Cameron "has had little to offer other than to raise the red flag of fiscal panic".{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=Gordon Does Good |work=The New York Times |date=October 12, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/opinion/13krugman.html |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429195449/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/opinion/13krugman.html |archive-date=April 29, 2011 |url-status=live }}

Krugman has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump and his administration.{{cite news |title=Trump's Deadly Narcissism |newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/trumps-deadly-narcissism.html |access-date=December 12, 2017 |date=2017-09-29 |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214124334/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/trumps-deadly-narcissism.html |archive-date=December 14, 2017 |url-status=live }} His criticisms have included the president's climate change proposals, economic policy,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/opinion/trump-economy.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Here Comes the Trump Slump|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=2019-10-03|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-08|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} the Republican tax plan and Trump's foreign policy initiatives. Krugman often used his op-ed column in The New York Times to set out arguments against the president's policies. On election night in 2016, Krugman wrongly predicted in a New York Times op-ed that the markets would never recover under Trump and stated "first-pass answer is never"{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/election-night-2016/paul-krugman-the-economic-fallout | title=Paul Krugman: The Economic Fallout | newspaper=The New York Times | date=November 9, 2016 | access-date=18 October 2020}}{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/11/10/paul-krugman-is-overly-gloomy-trumps-election-is-not-going-to-cause-a-permanent-global-recession/#28d9f02e49a0 | title=Paul Krugman Is Overly Gloomy - Trump's Election Is Not Going To Cause A Permanent Global Recession | publisher=Forbes| work=Tim Worstall | date=10 November 2016 | access-date=18 October 2020}} but retracted the call in the same publication three days later.{{Cite news|last=Krugman|first=Paul|date=2016-11-11|title=The Long Haul|work=The New York Times|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/the-long-haul|access-date=2020-12-18}} Trump gave him a 'Fake News Award'. Krugman stated "I get a 'fake news award' for a bad market call, retracted 3 days later, from 2000-lie man, who still won't admit he lost the popular vote. Sad!"{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-fake-news-awards-economists-paul-krugman-didnt-deserve-a8165951.html | title=Donald Trump has given Paul Krugman a 'Fake News Award' – but did the economist really get it so wrong? | publisher=The Independent | work=Sean O'Grady | date=18 January 2018 | access-date=18 October 2020}}

In his New York Times column, Krugman described Russia as a "Potemkin superpower" in reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He stated that "Russia is even weaker than most people, myself included, seem to have realized", that the military performance of Russia "has been less effective than advertised" in a stalemate at the beginning of the invasion, and that Russia encountered serious logistical problems. Krugman observed that the country's total gross domestic product is only a bit more than half as large as those of countries such as Britain and France, despite Russia's greater landmass, total population and natural resource endowment. He also noted that Russia's economy was further weakened by international sanctions as a result of the war. He concluded that Russia had "far less real strength than meets the eye."{{cite journal|author=Paul Krugman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/opinion/putin-military-sanctions-weakness.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301041314/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/opinion/putin-military-sanctions-weakness.html|url-status=live|archive-date=1 March 2022|title=Russia Is a Potemkin Superpower|journal=The New York Times|date=28 February 2022|access-date=1 March 2022}}

Krugman opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.{{Cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=March 18, 2003 |title=Things to Come |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/opinion/things-to-come.html |newspaper=The New York Times}} He wrote in his New York Times column: "What we should have learned from the Iraq debacle was that you should always be skeptical and that you should never rely on supposed authority. If you hear that 'everyone' supports a policy, whether it's a war of choice or fiscal austerity, you should ask whether 'everyone' has been defined to exclude anyone expressing a different opinion."{{cite news |date=April 1, 2013 |title=Why Was Paul Krugman So Wrong? |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/why-was-paul-krugman-so-wrong/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119230834/https://www.thenation.com/article/why-was-paul-krugman-so-wrong/ |archive-date=January 19, 2019 |access-date=January 19, 2019 |work=The Nation}}

In 2012, Krugman praised Peter Beinart’s The Crisis of Zionism as a “brave book,” criticizing the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.{{efn|Something I’ve been meaning to do — and still don’t have the time to do properly — is say something about Peter Beinart’s brave book The Crisis of Zionism.

The truth is that like many liberal American Jews — and most American Jews are still liberal — I basically avoid thinking about where Israel is going. It seems obvious from here that the narrow-minded policies of the current government are basically a gradual, long-run form of national suicide — and that’s bad for Jews everywhere, not to mention the world. But I have other battles to fight, and to say anything to that effect is to bring yourself under intense attack from organized groups that try to make any criticism of Israeli policies tantamount to anti-Semitism.

But it’s only right to say something on behalf of Beinart, who has predictably run into that buzzsaw. As I said, a brave man, and he deserves better.}}{{cite web|author=Paul Krugman|date=April 20, 2012|title=The Crisis of Zionism|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/the-crisis-of-zionism/|work=The New York Times}} In 2024, amidst the Gaza war, Krugman wrote that Netanyahu’s government was “killing huge numbers of civilians” but expressed skepticism at President Joe Biden’s ability to stop the body count,{{cite web|author=Paul Krugman|date=May 30, 2024|title=What if This Is Our Last Real Election?|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/opinion/biden-trump-election.html |work=The New York Times}} but did not elaborate, having said in 2012 that “like many liberal American Jews — and most American Jews are still liberal — I basically avoid thinking about where Israel is going.”

In 1998 during the dot-com bubble, Krugman wrote a commentary for Red Herring that urged skepticism of optimistic predictions for technology-driven progress. He followed it with several pessimistic predictions of his own, including that "[b]y 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's"{{Cite web|url=http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue55/economics.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980610100009/http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue55/economics.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=1998-06-10|title=ECONOMICS Why most economists' predictions are wrong.|first=Paul|last=Krugman|website=Red Herring via Internet Archive|date=June 10, 1998}}{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/jasonpontin/docs/red_herring-june_1998/32|title=ECONOMICS Why most economists' predictions are wrong.|first=Paul|last=Krugman|magazine=Red Herring issue 55 via issuu eBook of print edition|date=June 1998}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/predictions-are-hard-especially-about-the-future/68471/|title=Predictions are Hard, Especially About the Future|first=Megan|last=McArdle|date=December 23, 2010|website=The Atlantic}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-krugman-internets-effect-economy/|title=Did Paul Krugman Say the Internet's Effect on the World Economy Would Be 'No Greater Than the Fax Machine's'?|website=Snopes.com|date=June 7, 2018 }} and that the number of jobs for IT specialists would decelerate and turn down. In a 2013 interview, Krugman stated that the predictions were meant to be "fun and provocative, not to engage in careful forecasting".{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-responds-to-internet-quote-2013-12|title=Paul Krugman Responds To All The People Throwing Around His Old Internet Quote|first=Jay|last=Yarow|website=Business Insider}}

Krugman is a vocal critic of Bitcoin, arguing against its economic soundness since 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/adam-smith-hates-bitcoin/|title=Adam Smith Hates Bitcoin|date=April 12, 2013}}{{Cite web |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=September 7, 2011 |title=Golden Cyberfetters |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/golden-cyberfetters/ |access-date=February 26, 2022 |website=The New York Times}} In 2017, he predicted that Bitcoin is a more obvious bubble than housing and stated that "[t]here's been no demonstration yet that it actually is helpful in conducting economic transactions".{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-says-bitcoin-is-a-bubble-2017-12|title=PAUL KRUGMAN: Bitcoin is a more obvious bubble than housing was|first=Jacqui Frank, Kara Chin, Joe|last=Ciolli|website=Business Insider}}

In December 2022 Krugman predicted that, because of generative AI such as ChatGPT, "quite a few knowledge jobs may be eminently replaceable". He suggested that such technology would likely prove beneficial "in the long run", but that "in the long run, we are all dead, and even before that, some of us may find ourselves either unemployed or earning far less than we expected".{{Cite web |last=Krugman |first=Paul |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/opinion/chatgpt-ai-skilled-jobs-automation.html|title=Does ChatGPT Mean Robots Are Coming For the Skilled Jobs?|website=The New York Times |date=December 6, 2022}}

Krugman has been married twice. His first wife, Robin L. Bergman, is a designer.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/business/three-whiz-kid-economists-of-the-90-s-pragmatists-all.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20201024163830/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/business/three-whiz-kid-economists-of-the-90-s-pragmatists-all.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2020-10-24 | title=Three Whiz Kid Economists of the 90's, Pragmatists All | first=Sylvia | last=Nasar | work=The New York Times | date=October 27, 1991}}{{cite web | url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-l-bergman-a701838/ | title= Robin L. Bergman}} He is currently married to Robin Wells, an academic economist who received her BA from the University of Chicago and her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite web |title=Robin Wells |publisher=Macmillan Learning |access-date=November 22, 2017 |url=http://macmillanlearning.com/Catalog/Author/robinwells |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201030723/http://macmillanlearning.com/Catalog/Author/robinwells |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |url-status=dead }} She, like Krugman, taught at MIT. Together, Krugman and his wife have co-authored several economics textbooks. In early 2007, rumors began circulating that Krugman's "son" was working for Hillary Clinton's campaign. However, Krugman clarified in his op-ed column for the New York Times that he and his wife do not have any children.{{cite web |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=About my son (blog post) |work=The New York Times |date=December 19, 2007 |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/about-my-son/ |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913023321/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/about-my-son/ |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |title=THE DEFLATIONIST: How Paul Krugman found politics |first=Larissa |last=MacFarquhar |magazine=The New Yorker |date=March 1, 2010 |url=https://newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar |access-date=February 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226093220/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar |archive-date=February 26, 2010 |url-status=live}}

Krugman currently lives in New York City.{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Krugman |title=Inequality and the City |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 30, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/inequality-and-the-city.html |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206082859/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/inequality-and-the-city.html |archive-date=February 6, 2017 |url-status=live }} Upon retiring from Princeton after fifteen years of teaching in June 2015, he addressed the issue in his column, stating that while he retains the utmost praise and respect for Princeton, he wishes to reside in New York City and hopes to focus more on public policy issues.{{cite web |title=Changes (Personal/Professional) (blog post) |first=Paul |last=Krugman |work=The New York Times |date=February 28, 2014 |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/changes-personalprofessional/ |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517160748/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/changes-personalprofessional/ |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |url-status=live }} He subsequently became a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a distinguished scholar at the Graduate Center's Luxembourg Income Study Center.{{cite press release |title=Noted Economist Paul Krugman to Join Graduate Center Faculty in 2015 |url=http://www.gc.cuny.edu/News/GC-News/Detail?id=23418 |publisher=The Graduate Center, CUNY |date=February 28, 2014 |access-date=March 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301145851/http://www.gc.cuny.edu/News/GC-News/Detail?id=23418 |archive-date=March 1, 2014 |url-status=live }}

Krugman reports that he is a distant relative of conservative journalist David Frum.{{cite news |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/david-frum-aei-heritage-and-health-care/ |work=The New York Times |title=David Frum, AEI, Heritage And Health Care (blog post) |first=Paul |last=Krugman |date=March 25, 2010 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105202107/http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/david-frum-aei-heritage-and-health-care/ |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |url-status=live }} He has described himself as a "Loner. Ordinarily shy. Shy with individuals."{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Clark |url= https://nymag.com/print/?/news/politics/paul-krugman-2011-5/ |title=What's Left of the Left |newspaper=New York (magazine) |date=April 22, 2011 |access-date=October 18, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200709123630/https://nymag.com/news/politics/paul-krugman-2011-5/ |archive-date=July 9, 2020 |url-status=live }}

• The Spatial Economy – Cities, Regions and International Trade (July 1999), with Masahisa Fujita and Anthony Venables. MIT Press, {{ISBN|0-262-06204-6}}
• The Self Organizing Economy (February 1996), {{ISBN|1-55786-698-8}}
• EMU and the Regions (December 1995), with Guillermo de la Dehesa. {{ISBN|1-56708-038-3}}
• Development, Geography, and Economic Theory (Ohlin Lectures) (September 1995), {{ISBN|0-262-11203-5}}
• Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (3rd Edition) (February 1995), with Edward M. Graham. {{ISBN|0-88132-204-0}}
• World Savings Shortage (September 1994), {{ISBN|0-88132-161-3}}
• What Do We Need to Know About the International Monetary System? (Essays in International Finance, No 190 July 1993) {{ISBN|0-88165-097-8}}
• Currencies and Crises (June 1992), {{ISBN|0-262-11165-9}}
• Geography and Trade (Gaston Eyskens Lecture Series) (August 1991), {{ISBN|0-262-11159-4}}
• The Risks Facing the World Economy (July 1991), with Guillermo de la Dehesa and Charles Taylor. {{ISBN|1-56708-073-1}}
• Has the Adjustment Process Worked? (Policy Analyses in International Economics, 34) (June 1991), {{ISBN|0-88132-116-8}}
• Rethinking International Trade (April 1990), {{ISBN|0-262-11148-9}}
• Trade Policy and Market Structure (March 1989), with Elhanan Helpman. {{ISBN|0-262-08182-2}}
• Exchange-Rate Instability (Lionel Robbins Lectures) (November 1988), {{ISBN|0-262-11140-3}}
• Adjustment in the World Economy (August 1987) {{ISBN|1-56708-023-5}}
• Market Structure and Foreign Trade: Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition, and the International Economy (May 1985), with Elhanan Helpman. {{ISBN|978-0-262-08150-4}}

• Currency Crises (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report) (September 2000), {{ISBN|0-226-45462-2}}
• Trade with Japan: Has the Door Opened Wider? (National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report) (March 1995), {{ISBN|0-226-45459-2}}
• Empirical Studies of Strategic Trade Policy (National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report) (April 1994), co-edited with Alasdair Smith. {{ISBN|0-226-45460-6}}
• Exchange Rate Targets and Currency Bands (October 1991), co-edited with Marcus Miller. {{ISBN|0-521-41533-0}}
• Strategic Trade Policy and the New International Economics (January 1986), {{ISBN|0-262-11112-8}}

• Economics: European Edition (Spring 2007), with Robin Wells and Kathryn Graddy. {{ISBN|0-7167-9956-1}}
• Macroeconomics (February 2006), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|0-7167-6763-5}}
• Economics, first edition (December 2005), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|1-57259-150-1}}
• Economics, second edition (2009), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|0-7167-7158-6}}
• Economics, third edition (2013), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|1-4292-5163-8}}
• Economics, fourth edition (2017), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|1-4641-8665-0}}
• Economics, fifth edition (2018), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|1-319-06660-7}}
• Economics, sixth edition (2021), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|1-319-24494-7}}
• Microeconomics (March 2004), with Robin Wells. {{ISBN|0-7167-5997-7}}
• International Economics: Theory and Policy, with Maurice Obstfeld. 7th Edition (2006), {{ISBN|0-321-29383-5}}; 1st Edition (1998), {{ISBN|0-673-52186-9}}

• Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future (January 2020) {{ISBN|978-1324005018}}
• End This Depression Now! (April 2012) {{ISBN|0-393-08877-4}}
• A call for stimulative expansionary policy and an end to austerity
• The Conscience of a Liberal (October 2007) {{ISBN|0-393-06069-1}}
• The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century (September 2003) {{ISBN|0-393-05850-6}}
• A book of his The New York Times columns, many deal with the economic policies of the Bush administration or the economy in general.
• Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan (May 4, 2001) {{ISBN|0-393-05062-9}}
• The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (December 2008) {{ISBN|0-393-07101-4}}
• An updated version of his previous work.
• The Return of Depression Economics (May 1999) {{ISBN|0-393-04839-X}}
• Considers the long economic stagnation of Japan through the 1990s, the Asian financial crisis, and problems in Latin America.
• The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (December 2008) {{ISBN|0-393-07101-4}}
• The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science (May 1998) {{ISBN|0-393-04638-9}}
• Essay collection, primarily from Krugman's writing for Slate.
• Pop Internationalism (March 1996) {{ISBN|0-262-11210-8}}
• Essay collection, covering largely the same ground as Peddling Prosperity.
• Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations (April 1995) {{ISBN|0-393-31292-5}}
• History of economic thought from the first rumblings of revolt against Keynesian economics to the present, for the layman.
• The Age of Diminished Expectations: U.S. Economic Policy in the 1990s (1990) {{ISBN|0-262-11156-X}}
• A "briefing book" on the major policy issues around the economy.
• Revised and Updated, January 1994, {{ISBN|0-262-61092-2}}
• Third Edition, August 1997, {{ISBN|0-262-11224-8}}

• (2012) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121019012611/http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/127/3/1469.short Debt, Deleveraging, and the Liquidity Trap: A Fisher-Minsky-Koo Approach]". The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127 (3), pp. 1469–513.
• (2009) "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25592474 The Increasing Returns Revolution in Trade and Geography]". The American Economic Review 99(3), pp. 561–71.
• (1998) "[https://www.jstor.org/pss/2534694 It's Baaack: Japan's Slump and the Return of the Liquidity Trap]". Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1998, pp. 137–205.
• (1996) "[http://www.econ.umn.edu/~tkehoe/classes/Krugman2.pdf Are currency crises self-fulfilling?]". NBER Macroeconomics Annual 11, pp. 345–78.
• (1995) {{cite journal | title = Globalization and the inequality of nations | author = (with AJ Venables) | author-link = Anthony Venables | journal = Quarterly Journal of Economics | volume = 110 | issue = 4 | pages = 857–80 | doi = 10.2307/2946642| jstor = 2946642 | year = 1995 | s2cid = 154458353 | url = http://www.ifn.se/wfiles/wp/wp430.pdf | doi-access = free }}
• (1991) "[https://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/geography.pdf Increasing returns and economic geography]". Journal of Political Economy 99, pp. 483–99.
• (1991) {{cite journal | title = Target zones and exchange rate dynamics | journal = Quarterly Journal of Economics | volume = 106 | issue = 3 | pages = 669–82 | doi = 10.2307/2937922 | jstor = 2937922 | year = 1991 | last1 = Krugman | first1 = P. R.| s2cid = 154356042 | url = http://www.nber.org/papers/w2481.pdf }}
• (1991) "[http://www.isid.ac.in/~tridip/Teaching/DevEco/Readings/03Expectations/06Krugman-QJE1991.pdf History versus expectations]". Quarterly Journal of Economics 106 (2), pp. 651–67.
• (1981) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20161122154926/http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ655/Lapan/Readings/Intraindustry%20Specialization%20and%20the%20Gains%20from%20Trade%20Krugman.pdf Intra-industry specialization and the gains from trade]". Journal of Political Economy 89, pp. 959–73.
• (1980) "[https://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/scale_econ.pdf Scale economies, product differentiation, and the pattern of trade]". American Economic Review 70, pp. 950–59.
• (1979) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20091122075027/http://www.columbia.edu/~rhc2/Spring2006/G6904/Papers/Krugman_79.pdf A model of balance-of-payments crises]". Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 11, pp. 311–25.
• (1979) "[https://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/g-k/krugman/krugman-increasing_returns_1978.pdf Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade]". Journal of International Economics 9, pp. 469–79.

{{portal|Biography}}

• Capitol Hill Baby-Sitting Co-op, popularized in Krugman's book, Peddling Prosperity
• List of economists
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates
• List of newspaper columnists
• New Yorkers in journalism

{{reflist}}

{{Sister project links|wikt=no|b=no|n=no|v=no|voy=no|species=no|s=no|commons=Category:Paul Krugman}}

• {{Twitter|paulkrugman|Paul Krugman}}
• [https://www.nytimes.com/by/paul-krugman Profile and column archive] at The New York Times
• [http://krugmanonline.com KrugmanOnline.com] features books by Krugman, a custom search engine, and aggregated content from the web.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006000450/http://www.pkarchive.org/ The Unofficial Krugman Archive] contains nearly all his pre-TimesSelect articles
• [http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ Paul Krugman (MIT)]: archives of his Slate and Fortune columns plus other writings 1996–2000
• [http://www.nber.org/people/paul_krugman Krugman Publications] at the National Bureau of Economic Research
• [http://contrakrugman.com/ Contra Krugman] – articles by economist Robert P. Murphy and historian Thomas Woods seeking to refute Krugman
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISvNABkToE/ "Paul Krugman: Commencement Speaker], Bard College at Simon's Rock" (YouTube)
• {{C-SPAN|26308}}
• [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2008/krugman/facts/ Paul Krugman] at nobelprize.org
• {{Muckrack|nytimeskrugman|Paul Krugman}}

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{{s-bef | before = Leonid Hurwicz | before2 = Eric S. Maskin | before3 = Roger B. Myerson }}

{{s-ttl | title = Laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics | years = 2008 }}

{{s-aft | after = Elinor Ostrom | after2 = Oliver E. Williamson}}

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{{Keynesians}}

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{{GeraldLoebAward Columns, Commentary, and Editorials}}

{{John Bates Clark Medal recipients}}

{{2008 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Nobel laureates in economics 2001-2025}}

{{Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences}}

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