Re: "the homogenization of Paul Krugman"

[Walt Byars <wbyars@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That exact same quote is in his recent co-authored micro text. What a
piece of ideological rubbish. Its advice on policy is completely
unsupported by orthodox economics (it says unequivocally that a minimum
wage causes unemployment, no mention of monopsony...that liberalized trade
will increase welfare with no mention of the theory of second best or even
some contrary applications of the theories he originated). After 100 pages
of economic theory explicitly supporting right wing policies, they have a
completely irrelevant box on John Rawls' political philosophy to throw
some bones to the lefties.

> Business Week/JANUARY 23, 2006
>
> THE BOOK BIZ
> Making Nice To Make Sales
>
> In his column in The New York Times (NYT ), Paul Krugman is one of
> President George W. Bush's most outspoken foes. "Heck of a Job,
> Bushie," the Princeton University economist taunted on Dec. 30,
> accusing the President of breaking the law and misleading the public.
> But Krugman is far more generous to the President in his introductory
> textbook, Economics (Worth Publishers), which came out on Dec. 22.
> There he praises Bush's advisers for supporting "aggressive" measures
> to fight the 2001 recession. Photos contrast a confident Bush with a
> squinting Herbert Hoover, whose policies worsened the Depression. Far
> from picking fights with Republican academics, Krugman writes that
> "media coverage tends to exaggerate the real differences in views
> among economists."
>
> The homogenization of Paul Krugman may illustrate a basic principle of
> economics: The customer is always right. Textbooks are chosen by
> professors of all political stripes. Krugman says in an interview that
> he and his wife and co-author, Robin Wells, were "extremely careful"
> to be evenhanded.
>
> So far, Krugman says, there's no evidence that buyers have been turned
> off by his column. Good thing. His competition includes two of Bush's
> former chief economic advisers: R. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia
> University, who has a new textbook, and best-selling N. Gregory Mankiw
> of Harvard University, whose fourth edition arrives in March.
>
> By Peter Coy
> --
> Jim Devine
> "The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an
> intimate knowledge of its ugly side." -- James Baldwin
>