Krugman Leaving Princeton for de Blasio-Land

They really deserve each other.

Krugman writes:

Some news: I have informed Princeton that I will be retiring at the end of next academic year, that is, in June 2015. In August 2015 I will join the faculty of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, as a professor in the Ph.D. program in economics. I will also become a distinguished scholar at the Graduate Center’s Luxembourg Income Study Center. You can read all about it in theGraduate Center’s announcement.

None of this will have any effect on my work at the New York Times[...]

So, why am I doing this? It is in no sense a commentary on Princeton, which has been a wonderful place for me professionally and personally. In particular, I can’t praise Princeton’s intellectual quality enough: it has been a great honor to be affiliated with a superb public policy school and an equally superb economics department.

Instead, my move reflects some hard thinking about how I can best make use of my time.

Fairly obviously, the center of gravity of my work has shifted over time toward more of a public policy focus; and of course I also have a fairly unusual role as an academic who is also a columnist at the world’s greatest newspaper. Meanwhile, I’m now 61, and I realized that it’s time to take a hard look at where I really want to be at this point.

In terms of geography, the answer seemed clear on reflection: somewhere near Zabar’s New York is the best place to pursue my current interests. Given that decision, I sought an academic base.