Krugman to attend Economic Forum

RIGA - The first Riga Economic Forum will be held July 24 to July 26, which will also be attended by American economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, reports Nozare.lv Krugman is known as being highly critical of Latvia’s model for overcoming the global economic crisis.

The forum in Riga will focus on banking and finance, logistics and transport, tourism, energy, and new technologies. The organizers say that Krugman has confirmed his participation.
Krugman is known in Latvia for criticizing the way Latvia exited the crisis. He has said several times that devaluing the national currency would have been the best way to battle the crisis in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The government’s austerity measures resulted in a major decrease in the gross domestic product, which has still not fully recovered, says the economist.

The Nobel laureate is also a well-known personality in Estonia, where he tangled with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves over the digital media last year over similar commentary.