US economist Paul Krugman has won the 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics.
The Nobel jury said that Prof Krugman had been honoured for 'analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity'.
Prof Krugman, 55, has formulated a new theory that determines the effects of free trade and globalisation as well as the driving forces behind worldwide urbanisation, the citation said.
Known as a virulent critic of US President George W Bush through his articles in The New York Times, he is also the author of dozens of books about international trade and global finance.
After learning that he won the Nobel, Mr Krugman said winning the prestigious honour would be a life-changing experience - at least temporarily.
'It 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 added.
Born 28 February 1953 in Long Island, New York, Paul Krugman gained his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University.
He has also taught at Yale University, the London School of Economics, Stanford, and MIT.
Among his best-known works are 'Peddling Prosperity' and 'International Economics: Theory and Policy'.
Mr Krugman was the recipient of the 1991 John Bates Clark Medal, an award given every two years by the American Economic Association to an economist under 40.
Click here for more on this year's Nobel prize winners and the Swedish inventor who created the prestigious awards.
