Krugman and Public Choice

A few readers have observed that Krugman’s general neglect of public choice problems is especially odd because it takes such problems very seriously in the area he knows best: trade policy.  Here’s what Paul says in his 1993 AER piece, “The Narrow and Broad Arguments for Free Trade“:

The broad argument for free trade, to which many economists implicitly subscribe, is essentially political: free trade is a pretty good if not perfect policy, while an effort to deviate from it in a sophisticated...