Education

Irony: CUNY’s income inequality initiative will pay Krugman $225,000 a year

Robby Soave Reporter
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Economist Paul Krugman — who frequently uses his New York Times column to preach that rich people and Republicans are oppressing the poor with their capitalist policies — has been hired by City University of New York, which will pay him $225,000 to work on the ironically-named income inequality initiative.

His contract with CUNY was first reported by Gawker. He will be paid $225,000 for two semesters of work each year, or about $25,000 per month.

He is not required to teach during his first year of employment. Instead, the darling liberal pundit will be handsomely compensated for making media appearances and garnering publicity for CUNY’s Luxembourg Income Study Center.

CUNY also plans to reimburse Krugman $10,000 each year for travel expenses. A part-time researcher, or team of two researchers, will also be made available to him.

Even Krugman admitted that the deal seemed too good to be true.

“It’s remarkably generous,” he said in a written reply to CUNY’s offer. (RELATED: CUNY reduces Petraeus salary from $150,000 to $1)

Krugman frequently writes about how the 1 percent are harming the economic interests of the rest of society. His new salary is four times higher than the average income in New York City.

CUNY is a public university. About 46 percent of its budget is financed via state revenue in the form of taxes.

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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