Lunch with the FT - Krugman

Great FT interview and article here with Paul Krugman (”most hated and most admired columnist in the US”) that fits nicely with Geoff’s recent post on Krugman’s LSE visit.

Amonst other things, he discusses the chances of the Eurozone avoiding disaster and the Germans changing their philosophy of economic life (”the prospect of hanging concentrates the mind; the prospect of a collapse of the euro might concentrate their minds”), Bernanke’s successes in the Fed’s use of monetary policy to stave off deflation, the importance of inflation expectations and he reiterates his view that there should be a higher inflation target.

At the end of the article there’s a short introduction to six young economists whose research is making waves and influencing policy debates, the youngest:

“Raj Chetty, 32, is one of the youngest-ever tenured professors at Harvard’s economics department. He is best-known for going against the conventional theory that unemployment benefits reduce the incentive to look for work. Chetty’s research shows benefits can be helpful as they prevent people from rushing to take an unsuitable job.”

Great stuff!