STOCKHOLM (AFP) — US economist Paul Krugman, a prolific New York Times columnist and fierce critic of Washington’s economic policies, won the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday, the Nobel jury said.

Krugman, 55, a Princeton University professor, has formulated a new trade analysis theory which determines the effects of free trade and globalisation, as well as the driving forces behind worldwide urbanisation, the citation said.

Speaking to Swedish public television immediately after the prize announcement, Krugman said the award “obviously will seriously warp my next few days.”

“I hope that two weeks from now, I’m back to being pretty much the same person I was before,” he said, adding: “I’m a great believer in continuing to do work. I hope it doesn’t change things too much.”

…[B]y awarding Krugman, a critic of unfettered free-market policies who has focused heavily on globalisation and the developing world, the jury has indeed decided to confront major, civilisation-changing issues.

In his New York Times columns, Krugman has stood out as a harsh critic of the Bush administration’s free-market policies.

He was also adamantly opposed to the initial wording of US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s 700-billion-dollar financial sector bailout plan — which he described as “financial Russian roulette”, although he conceded that a rescue was needed.

Suck.On.That., Thomas Friedman.

I can haz Treasury Secretary?