Paul Krugman AFP/Getty Images WINNERS OF THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES IN THE LAST DECADE: WINNERS OF THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES IN THE LAST DECADE: 2007: Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory. 2006: American Edmund S. Phelps for furthering the understanding of the trade-offs between inflation and its effects on unemployment. 2005: Robert J. Aumann, of Israel and the United States, and American Thomas C. Schelling, for their work in game-theory analysis. 2004: Finn E. Kydland, Norway, and Edward C. Prescott, United States, for their contribution to dynamic macroeconomics. 2003: Robert F. Engle, United States, and Clive W.J. Granger, Britain, for their use of statistical methods for economic time series. 2002: Daniel Kahneman, United States and Israel, and Vernon L. Smith, United States, for pioneering the use of psychological and experimental economics in decision-making. 2001: George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, United States, for research into how the control of information affects markets. 2000: James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden, United States, for their work in developing theories to help analyze labor data and how people make work and travel decisions. 1999: Robert A. Mundell, Canada, for innovative analysis of exchange rates that helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Europe's common currency. 1998: Amartya Sen, India, for contributions to welfare economics, which help explain the economic mechanisms underlying famines and poverty. Source: Nobel Foundation STOCKHOLM (AP)  Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman won the Nobel economics prize on Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect trade patterns and the location of economic activity. Krugman was the lone of winner of the award with $1.4 million in Swedish kronor, and he was the latest in a string of American researchers to be honored. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Krugman for formulating a new theory to answer questions about free trade. "What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions," the academy said in its citation. "He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," it said. The award, known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is the last of the six Nobel prizes announced this year and is not one of the original Nobels. It was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in Nobel's memory. In addition to his work as an economist at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he has been since 2000, Krugman also writes about politics and inequality in the United States and other topics for The New York Times. Commenting on the global economic meltdown, he told a news conference in Stockholm by telephone from the United States that some of his research was linked to currency crises and related issues. "This is terrifying," he said, comparing it to the financial crisis that gripped Asia in the 1990s. He said winning the Nobel award won't change his approach to research and writing. "The prize will enhance visibility," he said, "but I hope it does not lead me into going to a lot of purely celebratory events, aside from the Nobel presentation itself." The citation said Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced at less cost in long series, a concept known as economies of scale. His research showed the effects of that on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more