The Nobel prize in economics (or to be exact, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel), like most of the Nobels in the sciences, is typically won by an economist little known outside the academic world, or even outside the discipline. Paul Krugman’s Nobel is different. He is that rare species, the public intellectual, the well-known academic, the economist with an audience.
The University of Chicago Press has published three books edited by Paul Krugman for the National Burea of Economic Research: Currency Crises, Empirical Studies of Strategic Trade Policy, and Trade with Japan: Has the Door Opened Wider?
These are books that will never be bestsellers—or anywhere near it—but contain the sort of research that creates prize-winning careers. Our warm congratulations to Paul Krugman.