How Krugman Works

From Krugman, the gist of an article, titled, How I Work:

In the course of describing my formative moment in 1978, I have already implicitly given my four basic rules for research. Let me now state them explicitly, then explain. Here are the rules:

1. Listen to the Gentiles
   
2. Question the question
   
3. Dare to be silly
   
4. Simplify, simplify

I think this is why I appreciate his insights, that they are not dogmatic, #1 and #2, and that they are clear, #4.