I was worried that the Nobel Committe were going to give this year's nobel prize for Economics to an economist who did work on the benefits of free, deregulated financial markets.

Thankfully, they choose not to embarass economists. Instead they gave the prize to Paul Krugman.
With his column at the New York Times and several books, he has done a lot to demystify economics and point out the failings and limitations of unbridled free markets. There are few modern economists I actually really like. But, Paul Krugman is one.

• Paul Krugman at Nobel Prize Committee
• Paul Krugman column at New York Times
• Paul Krugman at Amazon.com