Trickle-Down Vibenomics

The Vibecession, explained in memes.

Recently, Ross Douthat, the conservative New York Times columnist, sat down with Paul Krugman, the center-left economist. 

Though Krugman is Douthat’s colleague on the Times opinion page, their conversation seemed fated to be lopsided. Krugman won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his contributions to new trade theory, a field developed in the 1970s and ’80s to describe, among other things, network effects in international trade. 

Network effects occur when the value a person derives from a product depends on the number of people who use compatible products. See: telecom, email, social media, etc. 

Douthat is a prolific producer of conservative takes. He has long worried about moral decay, which he has blamed on “crime, contraception, and growing economic inequality.” In 2020, he explained his work at the Times: “My job is trying to step back and figure out what is going on in the bigger picture, what is the actual state of America and Western civilization.”

Douthat warned Krugman that he was about to be hazed. Though anti-Trump, Douthat, like many who have cast their lot with the Republican Party, is eager to see conservatism redeemed or at least not reduced to MAGA delusion.