American economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman is currently in Greece for the 4th Athens Democracy Forum organized under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
“Neoliberalism can mean many things, but if it means letting markets reign without restrains is always the answer then I’m also against neoliberalism” Krugman told the Athens-Macedonia News Agency in an interview.
Krugman explained that he found the Greek President’s speech to be interesting. “A very interesting speech, there were a few themes in there that are dear to my own heart. It is good to see someone talking about the necessity of reining in. We are from market economies but there need to be some ground rules. I was happy to hear it”.
Asked on the austerity imposed, the US economist explained that “as I took it, it was more about the obsession with structural reform which can be a good thing but it is often taken to mean simply remove all restrictions, which is not what you want”.
Finally, commenting on the upcoming US elections, Krugman argued that “the New York Times model says 80 percent Hilary Clinton. I hope that is true. Well, no, I’m not allowed to do endorsements, sorry, but God knows”. The Nobel Laureate further elaborated that “it is frightening that we have a risk of a very, very bad accident right now and I will not be relaxed until the day after”.
