You may already know that Paul Krugman, best known for his column in the New York Times in which he’s been methodically demolishing the Bush administration for some years, has won the Nobel Prize in Economics. What’s less well known is that Krugman is a keen science fiction reader, and is soon to be taking part in an online seminar on the novels of Charles Stross at Crooked Timber. This isn’t a new interest for him, either; thirty years ago he wrote a paper on the economics of interstellar trade (link is a PDF), which is worth looking at if you’re interested in either economics or space travel. In his own words, “It should be noted that while the subject of this paper is silly, the analysis actually does make sense. This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.
(cover to the paperback edition of Charlie’s Halting State, published by Orbit and featuring a neat little computer game character version of the author himself, although I should point out the real Charlie is slightly less pixellated, at least on a good day. Since the book deals with the intertwined nature of the virtual and the real world economies its a perfect example for Krugman to refer to. Its also a brilliant techno-thriller and darkly funny and highly recommended – Joe)
(Note for pedants: the economics prize was not part of Alfred Nobel’s original plan and wasn’t endowed by him but by the Sveriges Riksbank in 1969, so sometimes people say in a sniffy sort of way that’s not a real Nobel prize. These people are wrong. Winners of the prize are called Nobel Laureates and are listed on the official website of the Nobel Prize, which is good enough for me.)
Katherine Farmar, when not hiding from geometric patterns, writes regularly on comics and culture from around the world, you can read more on her comics blog Whereof One Can Speak.
Fri, Oct 17, 2008
Books, Katherine's corner