The American economist Paul R. Krugman won the Nobel economics prize on Monday for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.
Mr. Krugman, 55, a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and a columnist for The New York Times, formulated a new theory to answer questions about free trade, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
“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,” the academy said in its citation.
Financial news is good this morning for the first time in weeks. Read Krugman’s column for some insights into why.
IN OTHER NEWS: CNet reports that if you bought shares in most tech companies in October 1999 and sold them today, you would have lost money:
Our review of the share prices of large tech companies show that, for the most part, they’ve plummeted back to where they were nine or ten years ago. This means that, in general, anyone who bought shares of Microsoft or Intel during that time has lost money.
Once high-flying companies like Amazon.com, Dell, Yahoo, and Sun Microsystems have plummeted back to earth. Ones that noticeably appreciated compared to this time in 1999 include Apple, Research In Motion, and Hewlett Packard; SAP and IBM ended up sideways.