Nobel Peace Prize ... and history

Paul Krugman has won the Nobel prize in economics. Many people who should know say it is well deserved. Conservatives, on the whole, seem much less impressed. But here is why I think it was deserved, right here in Krugman describing his entry into the dismal field of Economics:

Most young economists today enter the field from the technical end. Originally intending a career in hard science or engineering, they slip down the scale into the most rigorous of the social sciences. The advantages of entering economics from that direction are obvious: one arrives already well trained in mathematics, one finds the concept of formal modeling natural. It is not, however, where I come from. My first love was history; I studied little math, picking up what I needed as I went along.

Well, there you have it. If the man's first love was history and he starts with an historical perspective he must be brilliant.

though I still don't read his column. I wonder if he knows Latin.