Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was announced as this year’s speaker at the annual Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture at the University of Massachusetts, according to a press release from the UMass office of News & Media Relations.

His lecture, entitled “What’s the Matter with Economics,” will take place on October 26 at 6 p.m. in the Mullins Center. In the talk, Krugman plans to explain the macroeconomic indicators for world events since the 2008 financial crisis. He will also discuss the reluctance of global economists to use such indicators and contemporary concepts in their research.

Krugman will be the 21st speaker at the annual event where previous lecturers include Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and former U.S. Ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith. Krugman will also be the 10th Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist to present in the series.

“There have been big names in recent years,” said Peter Bent, a Ph.D. candidate in economics. “I think Krugman is especially big because they have the Mullins Center set aside for it.”

Bent went on to add that he believes Krugman’s lecture will see a significant number of public attendees, as he sees many of the economist’s views corresponding with the political ideologies of many Amherst and Northampton residents.

In addition to being a Nobel Laureate for his work on trade theory, Krugman is the author or editor of 27 books and more than 200 academic papers, according to his New York Times biography. He is a professor at the Luxembourg Income Study Center at the City University of New York, and is a professor emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Krugman completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University in 1974, and earned a Ph.D. from MIT in 1977. His professorial career includes positions at Yale, Stanford and MIT. In addition to his academic pursuits, his op-ed column – a feature in The New York Times since 1999 – currently runs every Monday and Friday.

According to the UMass Economics Department website, the Memorial Lectureship Endowment was established in the memory of Philip Gamble, a member of the economics faculty from 1935 to 1971 and the chair of the department from 1942 to 1965.

While many UMass students may be familiar with Paul Krugman because of his large body of academic work, Bent believes students can definitely learn something new by going to his lecture.

“You can read his textbook, you can read his academic papers, you can get a sense for how he approaches economics,” Bent said on the great opportunity the lecture provides to people with interest in economics. “But the best part about a talk like that…is to be there and raise your hand, and say, ‘what do you think about what happened yesterday in the news?’”

Will Soltero can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @WillSoltero.