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The Matrix of Consumer Discontent
What facts do different stories explain?
By Paul Krugman
Most of my writing involves economics, but I weigh in on other issues such as technology, global politics or domestic policy, when I think I can add something to the discussion. I also write a weekly newsletter.
I’m an economist by training, with an original focus on international trade and finance, who taught at M.I.T. and Princeton University among other places, and am now a distinguished professor at City University of New York Graduate Center.
My pre-Times research was honored, among other things, with the 2008 Nobel Prize in economics. I am the author (or editor) of 27 books, and I am one of the founders of the “new trade theory,” a major rethinking of international trade that explains the emergence of new trade patterns between countries, based, in part, on how consumers started to seek out different brands for everyday products. I received my undergraduate degree at Yale University and my Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T. I grew up in Albany, N.Y.
I rely almost entirely on public information, rather than insider access. I try to get my facts right, try to listen to multiple views, and make a point of admitting when I got something wrong. I have no financial stake in anything I write, and no connection with any political campaign. You can learn more about The Times’s ethics guidelines here.
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What facts do different stories explain?
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