I was in Portugal in fall 1975 supporting the overthrow of fascism and the hopes for a better world. We met with soldiers, students, workers - factory and agricultural - and was swept up in the wave of revolutionary hope. In the US one doesn't learn in the social studies curriculum or in the intro global histories about portgual, fascism, Salazar. Watching your talk brought tears to my eyes. I am a CUNY professor. Go CUNY!!!
I lived through both. I was born in Lisbon and moved to Spain in 1975, where I lived until 2014. The Spanish “transition” was kind of a farce, sadly. From the outside, it looked like democracy, but there were of secret pacts between political parties and the King. A lot of BS from which Spain has still to recover. There still are many Franco heirs in power…
A key reason we moved to Portugal last year was the newness and high potential of respect and value for the county’s democracy. I have been following your posts - Wonderful statements and beautiful sentiment in your address of Portugal’s celebration of democracy!
Portugal (like Spain) has this "citizenship for displaced original residents" (not sure about the terminology, but meaning descendants of Jews that were forced to emigrate). My wife should qualify because her maternal grandmother was 100% Sephardic Jew. Somehow we couldn't document this (connection between grandma and my wife) clearly and missed that chance to obtain citizenship in a country that has struggled even longer that Turkey to become a democracy, but one that maintained it (unlike ours sliding into autocracy). While I still enjoy living in Turkey, if things get worse, Portugal would be a great place to escape for freedom.
Paul Krugman came here, I believe, in 1976 for what must have been one of his first jobs, working with the late Silva Lopes. He has been a great friend of Portugal ever since.
I live here, so I celebrated the 51st year after the overthrow of dictatorship, singing Portuguese, songs of liberation (Grândola Vila Morena) and shouting “fascismo nunca mais!”
Pretty weird, coming from a country that is so stupid that it is sliding in the same fascism that Portugal escaped.
Portugal is another country where an American can experience a freedom of being that was once a part of our society -- and it can be again, but only if you all learn to see through the lies of the neo-fascists, and then vote for against them without fear.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
Of all the South-European dictatorships, Portugal definitely did a great job in creating a democratic society, compared to the other former fascist regimes (Greece, Italy, Spain). As we know, fascism isn't merely a system of governance, it's also a culture. A corrupt one, that seeps deep into the bones of society and takes decades to get rid of, long after a fascist regime has been toppled and a democratic Constitution installed.
In my experience, there is still a high level of distrust among Portuguese people, compared to older European democracies, but its political leaders have been remarkably good at governance, compared to Italy for instance.
Still, Chega, Portugal's new far-right political party (founded by... a TV commentator) already became the third biggest party in the 2024 elections, with about 20% of the vote. That's still not comparable to the Netherlands, where Wilders' far-right party won the elections obtaining a whopping 37% of the vote (these numbers are high, in countries with more than ten political parties), but... democracies are always fragile and need active protection (as Germany does), if not, people can become so misinformed that they actively vote for fascism again...
My observation living in Portugal is that Chega’s success is based on supposed opposition to alleged government corruption and migration from the Asian Subcontinent. The government bureaucracy can be maddening and is often real. On the other hand, it is no worse than the US. There are efforts being made to automate normal tasks; yet, a cumbersome bureaucracy can be miss interpreted as corruption. Over 16% of the Portuguese population are not born in the country. Immigrants are an easy scapegoat for the growing pains of a dynamic country. Unfortunately, far-right, dishonest parties exploit the situation.
Interesting. I knew about African, Brazilian, and Eastern European immigration but didn't realize that Asian immigration was also a thing. Do you have any numbers, by chance?
Bureaucracy: as far as I know, corruption (both inside the government and on the level of society) is still quite high in Portugal, compared to more developed democracies. So yes, that people are fed up with that is understandable. It's usually one of the reasons why new democracies tend to slide back into fascism so easily (because fascists always promise "efficiency" (and never deliver, quite the contrary)). It's what you see happening today in Poland again: now that pro-democracy parties took over, after 8 years of neofascism, their poll numbers are dwindling already, only because you cannot possibly overturn so much systemic corruption so fast.
This is also why Schumer's decision to NOT go for a government shutdown was SUCH a wise one. Without it, destroying America's democratic institutions would have become 100% legal, and then it would have taken decades for pro-democracy politicians (conservatives and liberals alike) to reinstall them, with the constant risk of having fascists taking over again because people don't understand why it takes so much time and lose patience...
Living in Portugal some years it is my personal experience that, especially in the last 3 years, housing prices have increased exponentially, leading to very high rents combined with persistent low wages. These are real problems that democratic governments have done little to resolve in Portugal today. On the contrary, these pressures have only been exacerbated by recent policies, for example digital nomad visas requiring recipients to have incomes 4 times the national average mean that young foreigners can afford to live in central Lisbon while their Portuguese peers cannot. As a result the propotion of Portuguese people living in historic Lisbon is declining fast. In economic terms, given the aging and declining population, it is obvious why the government wishes to attract young educated people, but it seems to me the social and cultural cost is too high.
It's a huge problem indeed. "Globalization", in its negative sense (neoliberalism and the power of the wealthiest) has destroyed key aspects of Portuguese culture in Lisbon, all while making life entirely impossible for the lower middle class, in a country where the social safety net and healthcare are still very expensive (compared to Northern Europe, and taking real wages into account).
As far as I know, however, the mayor of Lisbon now prohibited the transformation of apartments into AirBnBs, recently?
Also, one of the original reasons to attract so many foreigners was the fact that during and immediately after the dictatorship, about half of the Portuguese people left the country (so about 10 million people emigrated, mostly to the North). The hope was that having wealthier people living in the country would result in more investments. And then, it always comes down to the mostly false trickle down theory. I don't see how Chega would solve ANY of these problems though... ?
I am not sure what you or anyone else means by historic center of Lisbon and why vast numbers of people would want to live here. If you are working full-time most areas in Lisbon are on train lines. Tech firms with above average jobs are located in suburbs like Oeiras or Parque de Naçēos not Chiado.
The historic center of Lisbon is are a Baixa, o Chiado, Alfama, Moraria, etc. These were places of utterly unique architecture and local cultures, until about two decades ago. Today, they've been turned into the typical no-soul global centers of any capital in the world, so the loss has been huge. Still, it remains a fantastic place to live. And yes, many more recent companies are located outside of the historic center, in equally soul-less, newly built blocks which you can find everywhere all around the world, so why would you want to move to Lisbon if it's to work and live in a place you find everywhere else too (but with much better healthcare and education levels)?
Yes, there is a reason young educated Portuguese people are leaving this country in droves. I would guess those leaving probably detest all that Chega stands for, probably would never vote Chega, but ironically they share ligitimate concerns with those who remain here, the folk who might vote Chega. Consider the latest OECD stat on housing afordability, realeased May 6. The stat compares rise in house prices to rise in a person 's income to determine your capacity to buy a house (afordabilty). Portugal now occupies the #1 spot when it comes to unafordabilty. Since 2015, the gap between house prices and income has, in fact, grown by 50% in Portugal compared to 16% in all OECD countries and 5% in all EU countries. What does this mean for Portuguese peoole? The facts are there for all to see. As the previous commentator pointed out, one obvious and painful fact is a stripping out of Portuguese culture from the historic centre of Lisbon. The reality is, only wealthy foreigners can aford to move there now. Btw, the cap introduced on new Airbnb licences and roll back on tax incentives for non productive immigrants is too little too late and does nothing to adress the systemic problems. Sadly, Portugueses domocracy remains fragile and, possibly for this reason, people in power lack a mandate (will?) to afect meaningful change.
Listening to the bankers who spoke after Prof Krugman, I am not sure they understood the significance. Many people worried about communism. My understanding is that Portugal felt it had to make those hard choices to fit into the modern European Union. It is commendable that they did.
My wife and I live in Lisbon now. Dr. Krugman, you are welcome to join us. We have been here 4 years and have experienced in that time a remarkable transformation. Wages are still low compared to most wealthy European countries which is producing a brain drain. And yet, many young people return with skills and entrepreneurial drive to open new businesses or improve existing ones. Portugal is an exciting place to be at the moment. I wager that it will continue to thrive.
Democratization and a better-educated workforce are good for a country’s economy. But the U.S. is going in reverse on both. Many GOP-dominated state legislatures tend to fund public education as if the money were coming out of their own pockets.
You have justified and defended the efforts of many to spread freedom and democracy throughout the world. It's a noble imperative to fight fascism with wits, not weapons. It pays to be free and democratic.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
“The effect of April 25th on education…”. The education, upskilling point is very salient and now the US has begun the arduous task of demonstrating the same phenomenon in reverse.
Imho the reverse started decades ago already, in the US. What is happening today is precisely the result of lower education levels (and for those with a degree, lower quality of education).
That's what I've been seeing also. The idea in the Southeast seems to have been to keep the public schools poor enough that people who are forced to attend them are so poorly educated that they cannot move elsewhere for better jobs. My mother, who lived in East Tennessee, told me that people who could afford to do so, were sending their kids to private schools because those schools didn't allow black students.
I was in Portugal in fall 1975 supporting the overthrow of fascism and the hopes for a better world. We met with soldiers, students, workers - factory and agricultural - and was swept up in the wave of revolutionary hope. In the US one doesn't learn in the social studies curriculum or in the intro global histories about portgual, fascism, Salazar. Watching your talk brought tears to my eyes. I am a CUNY professor. Go CUNY!!!
I taught at CUNY (BMCC) for two semesters—best employer I’ve ever had!
The carnation revolution; I remember it well. Soon after that the Franco regime was replaced. The Iberian peninsula was democratic again.
I lived through both. I was born in Lisbon and moved to Spain in 1975, where I lived until 2014. The Spanish “transition” was kind of a farce, sadly. From the outside, it looked like democracy, but there were of secret pacts between political parties and the King. A lot of BS from which Spain has still to recover. There still are many Franco heirs in power…
like who?
A key reason we moved to Portugal last year was the newness and high potential of respect and value for the county’s democracy. I have been following your posts - Wonderful statements and beautiful sentiment in your address of Portugal’s celebration of democracy!
I would love to hear how you managed the move and figured out where to live. And how you find it now.
Portugal (like Spain) has this "citizenship for displaced original residents" (not sure about the terminology, but meaning descendants of Jews that were forced to emigrate). My wife should qualify because her maternal grandmother was 100% Sephardic Jew. Somehow we couldn't document this (connection between grandma and my wife) clearly and missed that chance to obtain citizenship in a country that has struggled even longer that Turkey to become a democracy, but one that maintained it (unlike ours sliding into autocracy). While I still enjoy living in Turkey, if things get worse, Portugal would be a great place to escape for freedom.
Paul Krugman came here, I believe, in 1976 for what must have been one of his first jobs, working with the late Silva Lopes. He has been a great friend of Portugal ever since.
I live here, so I celebrated the 51st year after the overthrow of dictatorship, singing Portuguese, songs of liberation (Grândola Vila Morena) and shouting “fascismo nunca mais!”
Pretty weird, coming from a country that is so stupid that it is sliding in the same fascism that Portugal escaped.
Paul Krugman would never ever sell “investments,” so fuck off, asshole.
Portugal is another country where an American can experience a freedom of being that was once a part of our society -- and it can be again, but only if you all learn to see through the lies of the neo-fascists, and then vote for against them without fear.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
https://www.nokings.org/
The leader of the Chega party attended Trump‘s inauguration. Ugh.
May we go the way of Portugal.
Of all the South-European dictatorships, Portugal definitely did a great job in creating a democratic society, compared to the other former fascist regimes (Greece, Italy, Spain). As we know, fascism isn't merely a system of governance, it's also a culture. A corrupt one, that seeps deep into the bones of society and takes decades to get rid of, long after a fascist regime has been toppled and a democratic Constitution installed.
In my experience, there is still a high level of distrust among Portuguese people, compared to older European democracies, but its political leaders have been remarkably good at governance, compared to Italy for instance.
Still, Chega, Portugal's new far-right political party (founded by... a TV commentator) already became the third biggest party in the 2024 elections, with about 20% of the vote. That's still not comparable to the Netherlands, where Wilders' far-right party won the elections obtaining a whopping 37% of the vote (these numbers are high, in countries with more than ten political parties), but... democracies are always fragile and need active protection (as Germany does), if not, people can become so misinformed that they actively vote for fascism again...
My observation living in Portugal is that Chega’s success is based on supposed opposition to alleged government corruption and migration from the Asian Subcontinent. The government bureaucracy can be maddening and is often real. On the other hand, it is no worse than the US. There are efforts being made to automate normal tasks; yet, a cumbersome bureaucracy can be miss interpreted as corruption. Over 16% of the Portuguese population are not born in the country. Immigrants are an easy scapegoat for the growing pains of a dynamic country. Unfortunately, far-right, dishonest parties exploit the situation.
Interesting. I knew about African, Brazilian, and Eastern European immigration but didn't realize that Asian immigration was also a thing. Do you have any numbers, by chance?
Bureaucracy: as far as I know, corruption (both inside the government and on the level of society) is still quite high in Portugal, compared to more developed democracies. So yes, that people are fed up with that is understandable. It's usually one of the reasons why new democracies tend to slide back into fascism so easily (because fascists always promise "efficiency" (and never deliver, quite the contrary)). It's what you see happening today in Poland again: now that pro-democracy parties took over, after 8 years of neofascism, their poll numbers are dwindling already, only because you cannot possibly overturn so much systemic corruption so fast.
This is also why Schumer's decision to NOT go for a government shutdown was SUCH a wise one. Without it, destroying America's democratic institutions would have become 100% legal, and then it would have taken decades for pro-democracy politicians (conservatives and liberals alike) to reinstall them, with the constant risk of having fascists taking over again because people don't understand why it takes so much time and lose patience...
The best hope that the US will not become fascist is the fact that our head fascist is a senile moron and his main supporter is an idiot savant.
Fascismo nunca mais!
Living in Portugal some years it is my personal experience that, especially in the last 3 years, housing prices have increased exponentially, leading to very high rents combined with persistent low wages. These are real problems that democratic governments have done little to resolve in Portugal today. On the contrary, these pressures have only been exacerbated by recent policies, for example digital nomad visas requiring recipients to have incomes 4 times the national average mean that young foreigners can afford to live in central Lisbon while their Portuguese peers cannot. As a result the propotion of Portuguese people living in historic Lisbon is declining fast. In economic terms, given the aging and declining population, it is obvious why the government wishes to attract young educated people, but it seems to me the social and cultural cost is too high.
It's a huge problem indeed. "Globalization", in its negative sense (neoliberalism and the power of the wealthiest) has destroyed key aspects of Portuguese culture in Lisbon, all while making life entirely impossible for the lower middle class, in a country where the social safety net and healthcare are still very expensive (compared to Northern Europe, and taking real wages into account).
As far as I know, however, the mayor of Lisbon now prohibited the transformation of apartments into AirBnBs, recently?
Also, one of the original reasons to attract so many foreigners was the fact that during and immediately after the dictatorship, about half of the Portuguese people left the country (so about 10 million people emigrated, mostly to the North). The hope was that having wealthier people living in the country would result in more investments. And then, it always comes down to the mostly false trickle down theory. I don't see how Chega would solve ANY of these problems though... ?
I am not sure what you or anyone else means by historic center of Lisbon and why vast numbers of people would want to live here. If you are working full-time most areas in Lisbon are on train lines. Tech firms with above average jobs are located in suburbs like Oeiras or Parque de Naçēos not Chiado.
The historic center of Lisbon is are a Baixa, o Chiado, Alfama, Moraria, etc. These were places of utterly unique architecture and local cultures, until about two decades ago. Today, they've been turned into the typical no-soul global centers of any capital in the world, so the loss has been huge. Still, it remains a fantastic place to live. And yes, many more recent companies are located outside of the historic center, in equally soul-less, newly built blocks which you can find everywhere all around the world, so why would you want to move to Lisbon if it's to work and live in a place you find everywhere else too (but with much better healthcare and education levels)?
Yes, there is a reason young educated Portuguese people are leaving this country in droves. I would guess those leaving probably detest all that Chega stands for, probably would never vote Chega, but ironically they share ligitimate concerns with those who remain here, the folk who might vote Chega. Consider the latest OECD stat on housing afordability, realeased May 6. The stat compares rise in house prices to rise in a person 's income to determine your capacity to buy a house (afordabilty). Portugal now occupies the #1 spot when it comes to unafordabilty. Since 2015, the gap between house prices and income has, in fact, grown by 50% in Portugal compared to 16% in all OECD countries and 5% in all EU countries. What does this mean for Portuguese peoole? The facts are there for all to see. As the previous commentator pointed out, one obvious and painful fact is a stripping out of Portuguese culture from the historic centre of Lisbon. The reality is, only wealthy foreigners can aford to move there now. Btw, the cap introduced on new Airbnb licences and roll back on tax incentives for non productive immigrants is too little too late and does nothing to adress the systemic problems. Sadly, Portugueses domocracy remains fragile and, possibly for this reason, people in power lack a mandate (will?) to afect meaningful change.
50%... I didn't know it is that bad. Thanks for the info!
Yes that is an important distinction - fascism is not just about governance; it is a whole culture.
Listening to the bankers who spoke after Prof Krugman, I am not sure they understood the significance. Many people worried about communism. My understanding is that Portugal felt it had to make those hard choices to fit into the modern European Union. It is commendable that they did.
My wife and I live in Lisbon now. Dr. Krugman, you are welcome to join us. We have been here 4 years and have experienced in that time a remarkable transformation. Wages are still low compared to most wealthy European countries which is producing a brain drain. And yet, many young people return with skills and entrepreneurial drive to open new businesses or improve existing ones. Portugal is an exciting place to be at the moment. I wager that it will continue to thrive.
Please take care of yourself and be well soon. Having you here couldn't be more important at times like this in America 🤍💙
Democratization and a better-educated workforce are good for a country’s economy. But the U.S. is going in reverse on both. Many GOP-dominated state legislatures tend to fund public education as if the money were coming out of their own pockets.
Right! We care more about our lawns than our future.
You have justified and defended the efforts of many to spread freedom and democracy throughout the world. It's a noble imperative to fight fascism with wits, not weapons. It pays to be free and democratic.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
https://www.nokings.org/
Get better, teach.
I watched from Lisbon where I am on holiday. 👍🏽
For readers of this Substack, I respectfully recommend a recent article by Naomi Klein in the Guradian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk
Excellent article.
An expose of ultimate sleaze. They all need to be introduced to the guillotine.
“The effect of April 25th on education…”. The education, upskilling point is very salient and now the US has begun the arduous task of demonstrating the same phenomenon in reverse.
Imho the reverse started decades ago already, in the US. What is happening today is precisely the result of lower education levels (and for those with a degree, lower quality of education).
That's what I've been seeing also. The idea in the Southeast seems to have been to keep the public schools poor enough that people who are forced to attend them are so poorly educated that they cannot move elsewhere for better jobs. My mother, who lived in East Tennessee, told me that people who could afford to do so, were sending their kids to private schools because those schools didn't allow black students.