Paul Krugman really hurt Alan Greenspan's feelings

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last updated 15 May 2015

Seth Lipsky at The Wall Street Journal reports that Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has backed out of a conference on monetary policy this summer because of a scathing blog post written by Paul Krugman in The New York Times.

The conference, organized by the American Principles Project, is meant to be a counter-conference to the Fed's annual retreat-cum-summit at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. According to the group, Greenspan bowed out because of a recent post by Krugman called "The Worst Ex-Chairman Ever."

Krugman has criticized Greenspan for his failure to recognize the housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis, and his subsequent warnings that the central bank's stimulus efforts could lead to spiraling inflation. In his post, Krugman also dinged the American Principles Project, saying it "combines social conservatism — it's anti-gay-marriage, anti-abortion rights, and pro-'religious liberty' — with goldbug economic doctrine."