[A shorter version was published by Project Syndicate, October 26, 2026. Thanks are due Sohaib Nasim for excellent research assistance.]
Oct. 29, 2026 — Paul Krugman gave a talk last month at an ECB research conference where the subject was Geoeconomics, the weaponization of economic power for geopolitical ends. China’s ability to cut trading partners off from its exports of rare earth minerals is an example.
Krugman’s talk, titled “Economic Size and Economic Power,” rightly emphasized that country size matters for geoeconomics. Canada, for example, has more to lose from a rupture of trade with its larger neighbor, the United States, which can be expected to use its size to coerce the former. But I don’t buy Krugman’s way of comparing economic power across countries.