Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This and "Pop Internationalism" (also by Krugman) are the best popular economics books I've read.The best feature of these books are its translation of textbook micro- and macroeconomics (the kind you learn in Econ 101 and 102) into the language of the op-ed pages. In this language, Krugman is a persuasive voice for academic economics on policy issues such as trade and recession in which public (or at least popular) debate is too often dominated by non-economists. It's not the policy stances he ends up taking that are interesting so much as how convincingly he describes large portions of popular economic debate (for example, the debate about the "competitiveness" of the American economy) as much ado about nothing. It helps that he's usually clear about when he is speaking from the perspective of economics profession as a whole and when he is speaking from his own point of view. The ideas he presents are a lot more lively for his attaching their originators to them; I remember his allusions to Lawrence Summers' arrogance as particularly amusing. His politics are ultimately more critical of Republicans than of Democrats, but his criticisms are novel, thoughtful and much better than the usual blunt arguments we've heard a thousand times over from liberal columnists and talking heads. He is willing to engage the perspective of conservative economists, and is a lot more interested in carefully interpreting a few statistics than in spewing out a whole bunch and hoping their mere mass overwhelms the debate. I'm still a Republican after reading it, but I think I'm a better-attuned one, too.
Rating:
Summary: excellent on economics, a bit bitter on policy
Review: This is a wonderfully written and lucid book on the return of many economists to the truths of Keynes. No one defends and explains Keynes as well as Krugman, and his irrascibility is truly a pleasure in the usual rather dry discipline. He treats us to a tour of recent economic policies and in the process demolishes both monetarism and supply-side economics. Where he goes wrong is in his disdain for politics and the politicos who must sell economic ideas. Krugman hates these guys, perhaps because he is so impolitic himself that he got pssed over for a plum job in the Clinton Administration. As such, he denounces them with such fervor that the reader gets tired of the polemmic after a while, which is the only thing that detracts from an otherwise fine book and a masterpiece of the genre. Warmly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A great text on basic economics
Review: This was the book that got Krugman noticed by the generalist audience. For the first time he managed to shrug off the academic arrogance that predominates his profession and write a short and very readable intro to the world of political economy. Peddling Prosperity is good, not because Krugman takes a pot shots at everyones' favourite bogeymen, but because he explains basic economic concepts so clearly and shows how they apply to everyday life. Basic concepts like the savings-investment gap, why productivity differentials don't matter, rational expectations and the laffer curve are all explained clearly. PK then explains how the the election choices that ordinary Americans have made since the 1960s have been influenced by them. The economics is well done.....although his political bashing becomes somewhat heavy handed in places. The thing I didn't like was the US focus of most of the book. There are bits on Europe's airbus project and Margaret Thatcher, but that's not really representative of the much bigger world that most of us live in. Thankfully, his later books get more and more international. This one is really just a primer for what comes later.
Rating:
Summary: What we know and what we don¿t
Review: To many, Krugman's emphasis on what we don't know about economics is probably disappointing. A whole lot of Peddling Prosperity is devoted to the puzzle of the non-existing productivity growth during the 70s and 80s, and Krugman's conclusion is: we just don't know why productivity had fallen so abruptly. Written in 1994, the productivity surge of the 1990s was just starting, and PK had of course no idea that the high productivity growth would recover. There are some things economist do know, and PK's introduction to Keynes, the attack on Keynes by the monetarists, and the revenge of keynesianism is excellent. Like most real experts, PK is fully able to explain complicated matters in an understandable manner. The story is well written, with plenty of anecdotes to spice it up. PK's distinction between the 'professors' and the 'policy entrepreneurs' is a main theme in the book, but he is taking himself too seriously. Anybody really interested in economics is because it is about people, their needs, their wants, their motivations and so on. That clever economist/professors engage in and policymaking or public debate (as PK himself is heavily into), shouldn't lead to lack of credibility. Krugman is also missing the bottom line in the tax debate: people disagree about the best tax and redistribution policy, not mainly because someone believe this or that system is more efficient, but because it is fairer. And it is quite possible to argue, on the grounds of fairness, both that rich people should pay an awful lot in taxes and that they should pay a little, both coercive sharing and keeping their income. Krugmans brilliant and well-written story about the rise of monetarism during the 1970s earns, and of neo-Keynesians in the late 80s, is great. The best part, though, is his clear explanation of the huge misconception of comparing a nation with a corporation. The comparison is so far-fetched and leading to so much bad policy, yet so normal, that the issue should be dealt with at primary school. And Krugman's explanation is a very good place to start.
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