Economists Set Phasers on Stun

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Nobel prize winning economist and NYT‘s columnist, Paul Krugman expresses his love for sci-fi and fantasy in an interview for Wired magazine.

Krugman cites Isaac Asimov’s novel Foundation as his inspiration for becoming an economist, a damned responsible one at that: “‘I read [Isaac Asimov's] Foundation back when I was in high school, when I was a teenager and thought about the psychohistorians, who save galactic civilization through their understanding of the laws of society, and I said ‘I want to be one of those guys.’ And economics was as close as I could get.’” 

Sci-fi’s game of world-building, world-saving, and prefiguring reality with its highly logical imaginative scope grabbed Krugman and many of our other local neighborhood economists, including many of the writers of Crookedtimer.org, a political blog who’s first page hosts a lively discussion of a socialist literary novel!

Graham Todd is an intern at The Rumpus. He spends his mornings writing post-apocalyptic, vaguely biblical sci-fi horror comedy, his evenings tutoring the wide-eyed youth of the Palo Alto area, and his Thursdays at The Rumpus office, effectively “off the streets”. Beyond this weekly ritual, he enjoys karaoke, the movies, and jogging. More from this author →