It appears that Paul Krugman has spent his Nobel Prize money on a bigger and better place to live, to the tune of $1.7 million, down from $2.45 million last year.

It appears that this has caused some snark in the economics blogosphere^*, where they seem to think that Dr. Krugman is trying to time the real-estate market.

I’m with Felix Salmon on this:

1. Krugman came into some unexpected money, $1.4M in Nobel money.
2. Dr. Krugman wanted a nicer house.
3. Dr. Krugman used the unexpected money to buy a nicer house because he wanted to live in said nicer house.

Yes, I know, it’s technically a co-op.

^*You know, If I had used the phrase, “economics blogosphere”, a decade ago, the men in the white suits would have come to haul me away.