A satirical item published last week purporting that economist Paul Krugman had filed for bankruptcy has spread to Boston.com and the conservative website Breitbart this morning.

The item originated in The Daily Currant, a satirical news site. Austria's Format online magazine picked it up, and their report was subsequently cited by Boston.com. Then it spread to Breitbart.

It has since been taken down this morning, but here's a screenshot:

Krugman responded to the mix-up this morning, writing on his blog that he knew of the fake news item and was asked about it by a Russian television station. He wrote that he did not address it on his blog because he "wanted to wait and see which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax."

"Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a lavishly paid speech to Friends of Hamas," Krugman quipped, referring to Breitbart's recent invention of a group purportedly tied to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that ended up not actually existing.

Boston.com's version was taken down early this afternoon. It appeared to originate from The Prudent Investor blog, which sourced Austria's format magazine. Here's a screenshot of what Boston.com's piece looked like:





The Daily Currant is the same site the Washington Post cited in a false report last month that former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was joining Al Jazeera.

(HT: @lachlan)

This post has been updated.

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