Scorns the idea of Capital Controls as based on too little thought. Mr. Krugman is no stranger to drama, or controversy. Krugman got his revenge, in both cases, as we'll see. But that's a timeframe Krugman should pay particular attention to.
Fame is, well, fleeting.
Indeed, Mr. Krugman's had a terrific run of late. Put simply, the argument was that Asia's growth was almost entirely attributable to mobilization of resources, principally people and foreign investment, and not from value-added in the form of productivity, technology, or quality enhancements. As disingenuous as his argument sounds now, it provoked a storm of controversy among insecure Asian government executives and corporate chieftains ensconced in inefficient, protected companies. Meanwhile, Mr. Lee quietly began to read and talk quite a lot about productivity and innovation. When the Asian financial crisis struck, Mr. Krugman was suddenly the economist who predicted the Asian crisis, and demigod status soon followed.