Paul Krugman Fades Away
Now that bloggers have to pay for Paul Krugman’s opinions, they aren’t so interested in them.
Ever since the New York Times placed its opinion columnists behind the $49.95 / year TimesSelect wall in mid-September, Krugman has been the topic of fewer blog posts. Blogpulse’s trend tools show how often the phrase “Paul Krugman” was mentioned in blogs over the last six months:
(link to the chart here)
It looks like there is a clear dropoff after mid-September. Krugman hasn’t had a “hit” since the wall went up almost two months ago. He had a dry spell in early summer, but it only lasted a month.
Alternative explanations? They exist. One never-forgotten lesson from stats class twenty years ago is that correlation ain’t causation. Perhaps Krugman just hasn’t written a controversial column since September (but … we can’t tell!). Also, absent statistical analysis, we could be seeing patterns where there really aren’t any (but we don’t think so).
Supporting our theory that the blame lies with TimesSelect is a similar dropoff for Frank Rich and David Brooks. Maureen Dowd had a hit with her NYT Magazine article theorizing that men don’t want to date or marry accomplished women — a notion (though not a new one) that has generated no end of posts in the last ten days or so.
We will give credence to one other theory — perhaps bloggers just got tired refuting nuttiness like Krugman’s “the French want to be unemployed” column last summer. Paying $49.95 to be irritated just doesn’t seem like a deal — we replaced reading his columns with slapping ourselves, and feel better for it.
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For one-stop criticism of TimesSelect, visit KausFiles. On a good day, Kausfiles approaches Krugman’s numbers — see here!
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Update: Marginal Revolution points us to a November 9 update by Kaus:
Are you impressed that TimesSelect has attracted “approximately” 135,000 paying*** customers?** At $45 a head (halfway between the introductory price and the regular price) that’s $6.1 million. Bigger than Arianna! But if someone–say, Richard Mellon Scaife–had come along a year ago and offered the NYT $6.1 million to radically limit the reach of its (largely) liberal columnists, would the paper have taken the deal? … P.S.: And is the future subscriber trajectory really up, up, up, as the Times’ columnists fade as personalities on the Web and get replaced by other, freer popular writers? …
Update 2: For another interesting blog-influence analysis, see our The Los Angeles Times: Losing Influence Online?.
Update 3: Marginal Revolution readers, although you wouldn’t know it from our posts on smoking hot French anchorwomen, we do write more serious material — see our I Knew I’d Use My Econ Major category!
Technorati Tags: KausFiles, Mickey Kaus, New York Times, news media, NYT, Paul Krugman, TimesSelect
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November 7th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
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November 8th, 2005 at 7:06 pm
Now that the 25 tp 40% unemployment in the ghettoes surronding Paris is being credited as one of the causes of the current riots I wonder how Krugman feels about that column.
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November 11th, 2005 at 12:31 pm
Maureen Dowd’s article could be easily accessed by going though other parts of NYtimes.com without having to pay the TimeSelect fees. I’m pretty sure if the same were true for a Krugman article, his responses would rises again.
November 11th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
I can’t think of a better outcome.
November 11th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
“One never-forgotten lesson from stats class twenty years ago is that correlation ain’t causation.”
Can we get this taught in 1st grade, along with 1+1=2 and “see spot run”??
I think that alone would clear up 80% of the stupidity in the world.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:36 pm
This post on Paul Krugman and TimesSelect is more about influence than statistics, but this paragraph made it a winner in our book: Alternative explanations? They exist. One never-forgotten lesson from stats class twenty years ago is that correlation ain’t causation. Perhaps Krugman just
November 11th, 2005 at 10:51 pm
YES! I’ve always thought that basic stats should be taught in high school along w/ practical applications, like “let’s see if we can skew this poll one way or the other depending on how we word the question.” Another missing course — Personal Finance, in which the one thing you hope they take away is “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Another case of eliminating 80% of stupid decisions if they can just remember that one thing.
November 12th, 2005 at 11:11 am
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November 13th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
This is just a thought……
I do subscribe to TimesSelect, and what if i copy paste each column I like into my blog as a point of discussion about something I want to say.
Am i breaking any laws, and will i get into legal trouble ?
November 13th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
My guess is that would be a violation of their copyright — I know you’re allowed to cull excerpts of published material for criticism, but that’s it. It would also probably violate their terms of service. Anyone?
November 14th, 2005 at 1:13 am
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November 14th, 2005 at 3:52 am
It’s all about “commodity fetishization,” and it’s all thanks to Krugman’s “snottiness.” And not a moment too soon. Some people think Krugman is starting to “disappear.”
November 14th, 2005 at 4:38 pm
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