Paul Krugman Wins Nobel for Economics

The news came out on Monday, but I was too busy to blog that day. So, somewhat belatedly, congratulations to Professor Krugman for receiving the Nobel Prize in Economics. Well deserved, Professor! In my mind, this is one of the most visible and prestigious Nobel awards and I am glad it went to Krugman. Although I am not a professionally trained economist, I have been reading much on the topic and have been following his column in the New York Times pretty regularly. Considering what has been happening in the last few years, I find his opinions to be very much on target. His latest column was also dead on. It appears that the $700 billion package and the measures taken by Henry Paulson and the Fed did not calm the markets (or at least did not have the immediate effect some people expected). We had some very, very negative few weeks. Then Britain followed by the other leading EU countries decided to provide massive equity infusions into the banking system and guarantee bank debt. This seems to be the right approach. At least the markets reacted positively. The indexes in the US shot through the roof when the news came out on Monday.

Nobel in Economics goes to Chicago (again)‏

Another University of Chicago economist wins the Nobel Prize for Economics. Roger Myerson together with two other American theorists won this year's top award for his work in mechanism design theory as the Tribune reports. This makes him the 24th Nobel laureate in economics who is associated with U of C. It is pretty amazing when you consider the influence that the Chicago school of thought has had on economic theory. It is even more amazing when you consider that currently the U of C boasts five Nobel laureates in its economics department. I have not check it, but I seriously doubt it that another institution has ever matched or will ever match such a concentration of recognized talent.