Congratulations to Paul Krugman on his Nobel Prize, honoring him for work begun when he was in his young twenties. A client, Thomas Signer, also an economist, sent me a note the morning of the announcement. Mr. Signer has been previewing The Genius Machine and is a big fan of the notion that thinking is all about making new distinctions. He noticed this quote from Krugman:

“Reading the announcement of why Krugman won the Nobel your book came to mind, particularly referring to following comment “There was something very beautiful about the old existing trade theory, and its ability to capture the world in a surprisingly simple conceptual framework,” Mr. Krugman said. “And then I realized that some of the new insights coming through in industrial organization could be applied to international trade.” So it’s seeing something old in a new light as you argue. The new distinction. It’s all out there…but few can connect the dots.”

At first Krugman and many of his colleagues and advisors thought his work was of too little importance to ever warrant a Nobel. But time and events have demonstrated that sometimes even the subtlest of distinctions can change the world. All a genius does is notice.