Princeton University professor and bestselling author Paul Krugman won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences commented, "Patterns of trade and location have always been key issues in the economic debate. What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions. He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography."
The New York Times reported that Krugman, whose recent books include The Conscience of a Liberal, is better known to the general public as "a perpetual thorn in George Bush's side from his perch as an Op-Ed page columnist [at the Times] for nearly a decade. His columns have won him both strong supporters and ardent critics. The Nobel, however, was awarded for academic--and less political--research that he conducted primarily before he began regularly writing for the Times."
Krugman indicated he did not expect the award to change how he is regarded by either his colleagues or his readers. "For economists, this is a validation but not news. We know what each other have been up to," he said. "For readers of the column, maybe they will read a little more carefully when I'm being economistic, or maybe have a little more tolerance when I'm being boring."
He was not, however, shocked by the news that he had won. "To be absolutely, totally honest I thought this day might come someday, but I was absolutely convinced it wasn't going to be this day,” he said. "I know people who live their lives waiting for this call, and it's not good for the soul. So I put it out of my mind and stopped thinking about it."