Dean Baker: Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary

Posted: 01/08/2013 7:07 pm

That headline has all the D.C. insider types rolling their eyes right now, since they know it is absurd to imagine that President Obama would pick Krugman to be Timothy Geithner's replacement as Treasury Secretary. They aren't wrong, it is absurd. There is no way on earth that Obama would select Krugman. This fact tells us a great deal about what is wrong with the shape of the economic policy being debated in the nation's capital.

First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. No one can question Krugman's qualifications for the administration's top economic policy position. He is a winner of both the John Bates Clark award, which is given out every second year to the best economist under age 40, and the Nobel Prize. He has published hundreds of articles in academic journals, many of them leading to path-breaking innovations in economic theory. Arguing that he lacks the background is just silly.