Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

The truth is that not much economic discussion has taken place through books for a very long time. In fact, even journal articles have long been tombstones — things you had to publish for tenure, but lagging far behind the discussion 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Tyler conveys the impression that we went straight from The General Theory to Twitter. I was there for a lot of the transition, and that's not how it went 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Urp. I don't think economics is failing; in many ways I think it's better than ever. But that aside, this gets the history of communication in the field all wrong 1/ https://t.co/rI90cb1fzi — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Anyway, have to run now. But people really should ask themselves how they go about evaluating the records of prolific writers. Not just about me; it's a much broader problem 9/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Another question is whether people admit mistakes and learn from them. Lionel Robbins wrote an early book saying that the cure for the Great Depression was returning to the gold standard. He became a Keynesian — and that's to his credit! 8/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Actually, forgot to include a really good example of a bad prediction that shouldn't damage a professional reputation. Irving Fisher said that stocks would remain high bc of productivity gains from Prohibition. Silly stuff — but he was a great economist nonetheless 7/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

If, on the other hand, someone makes a bad prediction that does seem to stem from a model that is central to their reputation, that matters more. Milton Friedman's repeated forecasts of soaring inflation in the 1980s, bc the money supply was rising, are disturbing 6/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Anyway, no perfect answer here. But I think that when someone is in error, there are a few questions you should ask. First, does it relate to their presumed core competence? if I made a bad prediction about the winner of a singing contest, so what? 5/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

PS: If most of the attacks on you come from one thing you said a quarter-century ago, it might be considered evidence in your favor 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But then how do you evaluate a frequent writer's work? Selection bias is a real problem, in both directions: only citing the bum predictions from someone you dislike, only the ones that panned out from someone you approve of 3/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

I've written more than 2000 columns for The Times, and hundreds more before that in places like Slate and Fortune. If you write that much and you've never said something wrong, you're not taking enough risks 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

This article generated a lot of angry blowback, as expected — and actually a good thing, since if you don't a reaction you've wasted the space. Also a lot of ad hominem, not so good but also expected. So a bit of meta 1/ https://t.co/NBv5dPZpZx — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But ultimately free-market Keynesian, even disguised with a monetarist mask, wasn't sustainable 4/ https://t.co/ucjmIEnKsw — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Laid it out here 3/ https://t.co/xtZuDu0zdb — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Friedman tried to save free-market economics from itself, admitting that the economy wasn't self-correcting but arguing that a rule that didn't sound Keynesian would let conservative avoid thinking about that 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Hey, I answered that question at length some years back 1/ https://t.co/MCuyiMwXCg — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Meanwhile, an analogy that hadn't occurred to me 3/ https://t.co/zm5IVzaiHZ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Surely there's still space to introduce Consulcoin? It would do the same things as other cryptocurrencies, namely, nothing, but would have a cool market name: $SPQR 2/ https://t.co/R5u0GCWpIH — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Woke up this morning oddly disappointed that Dogecoin is not, in fact, named after these guys. But ... 1/ https://t.co/Qa0ZM04392 — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: "The Fed isn’t the Venezuelan government printing bolívars to pay its soldiers," @paulkrugman writes. "It’s basically actin… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: "While there are plenty of reasons to worry about what’s going on in the U.S. economy, Fed purchases of bonds and rising M2… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @TheStalwart: Krugman's writing on the economy over the years has been like 20x better than the typical economic pundit. Even today, wit… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: . @PaulKrugman responded to readers commenting on his column "Technobabble, Libertarian Derp and Bitcoin." Join the convers… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Impressive https://t.co/bcEPeOPkxH https://t.co/nUbaYpccKF — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

But now we're supposed to go back to using vast quantities of energy and computing power to perform functions that are, again, basically just record-keeping. How is this the future? 4/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Here's what Adam Smith said about the advantages of paper currency, still something of a novelty in 1776: 3/ https://t.co/cX2zWKCeeE — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

It's not just the climate damage. The long-term progress of money has involved moving away from tying up productive resources in what is basically just an accounting system; gold coins to paper money to digital payments 2/ — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Friends asking why this piece didn't get into the environmental issues with Bitcoin. Answer: 850 words. Enough space to focus on the silly, not the evil. But ... 1/ https://t.co/NBv5dPZpZx — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @nytopinion: "Because Bitcoin and its relatives haven’t managed to achieve any meaningful economic role," @paulkrugman writes, "what hap… — PolitiTweet.org

Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

RT @johnauthers: There's no arguing with the bitcoin faithful, who are impervious to flaws in their cryptocurrency savior. Brian would unde… — PolitiTweet.org