Paul Krugman
Photo: Bloomberg

Columnist, New York Times; Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

Guest Speaker - Class of Spring 2008

Paul Krugman is an American economist, columnist, and author. From 2000 to 2015 he was been a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, and prior to Princeton, at MIT. Krugman is also a bi-weekly columnist for the New York Times. He publishes prolifically on international economics and finance, and is the author of several books, including The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century and The Return of Depression Economics. From 1982 to 1983, Krugman worked in the Reagan Administration as a staff member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. He is also a member of the international economic body the Group of Thirty.

Krugman’s work in economics has earned him broad acclaim from the economic press and several prestigious awards, including the John Bates Clark medal from the American Economic Association. He holds honorary degrees from Haverford College and from the Freie Universität Berlin, and he studied economics at Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography.

Project Description

The Conscience of A Liberal

Paul Krugman’s latest addition to his compendium on international economics and finance is the book The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming America from the Right (German edition: Nach Bush: Das Ende der Neokonservativen und die Stunde der Demokraten, Campus Verlag, 2008). In his Academy lecture, Krugman discussed the theme of “economic equality and the liberal politics that support it,” arguing that the income disparities in America once abated by Roosevelt’s policies and the economic stimulus of World War II have been returning since the 1970s, to levels not seen since the Great Depression. He attributes the reason for this growing imbalance to non-economic factors; in particular, to conservative initiatives to cut taxes for the wealthy, dismantle social programs, and demolish trade unions. The result is weakening of public institutions and a sharp rise in incomes for the rich, while those for workers stagnate. In his presentation, Krugman will outline these issues with his characteristic political, social, and economic acumen and propose that the only cure is a new leadership that will make “opponents to the progressive agenda pay a price for their obstructionism.”

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