The rock-star economist

Krugman, the rock-star economist, displaying double-edged humility. Da un suo fan.

"QUESTION FROM IRVING FISHER: Do you want to go down in history as the Irving Fisher of your time?

PAUL KRUGMAN: I think I already missed my chance—I haven’t declared that stocks are at a permanently high plateau thanks to the effects of Prohibition.

Seriously, though, Fisher is a good example of the difference between analysis and prediction. A great economist, a terrible forecaster. I don’t think I equal him on either dimension."

Ask the Author Live: Larissa MacFarquhar with Paul Krugman, The New Yorker, 24 febbraio 2010.