Born in 1953, Paul Krugman is an American economist. Since 1999, he has been a regular contributor of op-ed pieces to the New York Times. In 2008, he obtained the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences for his work on trade patterns and the location of economic activity. A professor of Economics and International Affairs at PrincetonUniversity, he is also the author of 25 books on trade and international finance, and a large number of articles for such magazines as Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review and Scientific American.