American academic Paul Krugman has won this year's Nobel economics prize, it has been announced.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award recognised Mr Krugman's analysis of trade patterns and where economic activity takes place.
It said Mr Krugman, 55, a Princeton University professor, had formulated new theories that answered questions about free trade and globalisation.
Mr Krugman said he hoped the $1.4m win would not change his life greatly.
"The prize will enhance visibility," he told the Japanese duo and US scientist win Nobel Physics Prize ...
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Mr Krugman teaches economics and international affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey. He also writes a regular column for the New York Times.
The award is the last of six Nobel prizes announced this year. It is not one of the original Nobels, having been created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in memory of Alfred Nobel.
'Economies of scale'
The Nobel jury said Mr Krugman's work had led to theories that could help explain the effects of free trade and globalisation and the driving force behind worldwide urbanisation.
"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," the academy said in its citation.
"Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced more cheaply in a long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale," it went on.
"Meanwhile, consumers demand a varied supply of goods. As a result, small-scale production for a local market is replaced by large-scale production for the world market, where firms with similar products compete with one another."
(BBC)
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