It's a useful indicator of the way the winds of change are blowing through the corridors of power.
Yes. I've noticed the swing that's occurred at the Bank of Sweden in recent years. Some of the recent ones were given out, I suspect, for fear that this or that person would die prior to winning, but we've had Stiglitz, Akerlof, Phelps, and now Krugman. Sweden is always a little behind the times, but it just confirms that things are turning away from the Friedmanites and the other neoclassical schools.
It's also, along with New Trade Theory, probably a nod to Krugman's stuff written for the masses (Peddling Prosperity, Age of Diminished Expectations, etc). Krugman one of the few who can actually explain things in a way that the typical person can understand.
Probably a bit of a "Fuck You" to Bush in the midst of a banking crisis as well. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
It would make it hard to get a proper nomination process.
He would have been a fantastic one though, I'm sure. Not least for his apparent uncorruptibility. "The womb that spawned that thing is fertile yet"
He has written that he is pathologically unsuited for the job.
Plus, I doubt he'd want it.
-- $E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$
Plus, I doubt he'd want it. He's got what I'm sure is a pretty sweet gig at the NYT. Certainly, with today's news, he should be getting a big, fat raise. Why take the paycut to go to Treasury? Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Why take the paycut to go to Treasury?