Paul Robin Krugman (pronounced: /ˈkruːɡmən/; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, columnist and author. He is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography. He was voted sixth in Prospect Magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. The Nobel Prize Committee stated that Krugman's main contribution had been to explain patterns of international trade and the geographic concentration of wealth by examining the impact of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services. Krugman's work on international economics, including trade theory, economic geography, and international finance has established him as one of the most influential economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc. Krugman is also known in academia for his work on liquidity traps and on currency crises. As of 2006, Krugman had written or edited more than 25 books, 40 scholarly articles and 750 columns at The New York Times dealing with current economic and political issues. Krugman's International Economics: Theory and Policy, co-authored with Maurice Obstfeld is a standard college textbook on international economics. He also writes on political and economic topics for the general public, as well as on topics ranging from income distribution to international economics. Krugman considers himself a liberal, calling one of his books and his New York Times blog: "The Conscience of a Liberal". (via Wikipedia)