"Bush critic wins 2008 Nobel for economics"
"STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. economist Paul Krugman, a fierce critic of the Bush administration for policies that he argues led to the current financial crisis, won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics on Monday."While I think that Krugger has the right opinion about Bush but for all the wrong reasons, he (Krugman) is/was an excellent trade theorist and is, in my opinion, above the median quality level of all the Econ Nobelists. It's too bad that his receipt of the prize at this point in time will put focus on his political views rather than his economics skills which are/were mad!
8 comments:
Well, I got my doubts. Here is the probability report from Oct 10 from the Mankiw blog: Nobel Pool Update
One of organizers of the Nobel Prize pool provides this update on the betting:
Robert Barro has emerged in the Harvard Nobel Pool with 16.2% of all bets. However, the triumvirate of Hansen, Sargent and Sims, who many believe would be chosen together, has garnered nearly 23% of the vote and is the most likely prize, especially when one controls for home bias. Top vote getters as of now are below, although entries can be submitted until Sunday.
Barro 16.2%
Hansen 12.2%
Sargent 6.8%
Fama 6.8%
Hart 5.4%
Diamond 4.1%
Feldstein 4.1%
Sims 4.1%
Thaler 4.1%
Mankiw has since said very gracious things about how Krugman is smart and deserving, but still, people from the field didn't even give him a 4% chance of winning, and there were candidates thought much stronger.
My guess is: plausible candidate, and had the irresistable additional joy of tucking it to Bush 43, and what's not to like. It's not like the Nobel prizes haven't been used to send messages before...
Krugman's scholarly work may be good, but his popular writing indicates he's a moron. He still believes in the broken window fallacy (hurricanes are an ecomonic stimulus?) and he thinks every dollar you earn is taken from some poor person.
Details and more at Cafe Hayek.
If it's true that he's stated that hurricanes cause economic growth, his PhD should be rescinded, and he be forced to use his $1.4 million Nobel prize money to purchase thousands of copies of Bastiat's work and read every single one over and over.
There must have been qualifiers. Gigantic hedges.
I think asserting that Krugman's absence from Harvard's pool is evidence that Harvard economists don't think him worthy conflates two separate questions: will Krugman win a Nobel prize in his lifetime; will Krugman win the Nobel this year? The fact that they thought it unlikely that he would win this year tells us nothing about their beliefs about his lifetime chance.
The fact that economists are no better at picking prize winners than stock winners is hardly surprising. Good picks require inside knowledge. Economists have none. Buy an index.
At least somebody here at Princeton picked him (and I was kicking myself afterwards). But you're certainly right about the politicization. I went to his press conference & Champagne thing, and (after a request to explain economics & geography in a single sentence) all the questions were about politcs (including an odd two about the Italian economy). I guess if you write a column for the NYT and win the Nobel you are required (permitted?) to hold forth on everything?
Dean
I wouldn't worry too much about Krugman. He's a smug enough guy that I suspect it bothers him not in the least that his award may come off tainted to some. Most likely what he'll do is leverage it to answer critics from now on.
Now Obama can explain why Europe found Iraqi WMDs and the CW tests by Syria in Sudan (2004)?
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3451012,00.html
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?channel_id=2&story_id=4878
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124576,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/international/middleeast/10nati.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/politics/07NUKE.html
European firms bribed by Saddam
http://www.nysun.com/article/22207
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Saddam's (and Jimmy Carter's) links to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2092460,00.html
http://www.nysun.com/article/29746
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/?id=110005133
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016
http://www.nysun.com/article/24480
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007809
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21711
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22055
And then these Nazi teachings for all Arabs (Heil Hitler????:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/550aogvn.asp
What about Jimmy Carter's links also?
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover053106.htm
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Libya will not stop its chemical / nuclear WMD programs
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1222017555665
Guess how many more Arab dictators have been helped over the past several decades by by Germans who secretly violated laws and regulations???
Libya will not stop its chemical / nuclear WMD programs
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07277091.htm
Guess why...
And Nuclear arms materials for Libya:
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=28531&name=German+on+trial+for+supplying+nuclear+arms+parts+to+Libya
Now what other Arab countries have received these kinds of things???
Libyan nuclear devices missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63785-2004May28.html
Printer-friendly:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63785-2004May28?language=printer
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Kathy Schmidt
in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area
Obama support a group with Nazi roots:
What I say here is found in books that anyone can find on the Internet (www.amazon.com or www.bn.com) or rare bookstores. Do you realize that many women are supporting a group whose founder spoke highly of the Nazis' practices and teachings in the 1930s and 1940s, and who wrote books with racists wordings and ugly eugenics practices, such as getting rid of those kids who were deformed or had genetic problems?
What group and founder are I talking about? Let me give you some idea what this founder wrote in her books (yes, she is a woman). This female founder refers to people who are epileptics, feeble-minded, blind, deaf, mute, etc. as:
--> "...this dead weight of human waste..." that is "...the terrific cost to the community..."
This female says, "'Constructive' Eugenics...shows us that we are paying for and even submitting to the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all..."
Lovely, isn't it?
And then she refers to these problem people this way:
--> "Every single case of inherited defect, every malformed child, every congenitally tainted human being brought into this world is of infinite importance to that poor individual; but it is of scarcely less importance to the rest of us and to all of our children who must pay in one way or another for these biological and racial mistakes."
She also said that large families should kill some of their children so as to save "resources" for others.
How about this idea which is similar to the Nazis' propaganda during the 1930s?
--> "On its scientific side, Eugenics suggest the reestablishment of the balance between the fertility of the "fit" and the "unfit." "
In one of her publications, a magazine review, persons sympathetic to the Nazis' practices and even German Nazis themselves wrote articles for her. In other documents, she refers to the supremacy of the white race over the other races. Isn't great that she wrote side-by-side with those Nazis?
What are these books and materials to which I refer?
"The Pivot of Civilization"
"Woman and the New Race"
"The Birth Control Review"
Who is the author of this trash?
Who is this supporter of the Nazi eugenic practices?
MARGARET SANGER
Founder of PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Do people think that Jewish women are blind to Margaret Sanger's promotion of racial eugenics? Let me quote something from her that both she and Planned Parenthood standby:
--> "By education, by persuasion, by appeals to racial ethics and religious motives, the ardent Eugenicist hopes to increase the fertility of the "fit." "
Planned Parenthood refers to her as a Woman of Valor. Do you like that term? Not all of us Jewish women are now blind to what Planned Parenthood is doing to women all over the world. Are you?
AND note also that the Gay / Lesbian Groups ALL support Planned Parenthood WITHOUT any reservations also!
a Jewish woman who was deceived and attacked by Planned Parenthood and who also lost relatives in the Holocaust, thanks to Margaret Sanger
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Catherine
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