It should be by now well-established that Nouriel Roubini's media persona—an economist so dour he's known as Dr. Doom—is entirely at odds with his party-loving hottie-stalking ways. (We've published several items about the salons at the playboy-professor's Tribeca loft and the 50-year-old bachelor's rambling and self-aggrandizing notes to women on Facebook.) But that isn't the only tension between the celebrity economist's public and private pronouncements. Roubini—recognized as one of the few economists who predicted the credit crunch—was at the same time just as gloaty as any other self-satisfied real-estate owner about the appreciation of his own apartment. In one of his regular party invitations in 2006 (reproduced below), Dr. Doom boasted to friends and random Facebook hotties that Scarlett Johansson had moved into an apartment directly above him—paying 2½ times what he had just three years earlier. (The apartments have the same double-height 1,300-square-foot floor plan though one assumes the decoration upstairs is more conventional than the moulded vaginas on Roubini's wall.) But the actress' purchase—"very good taste/style on her part"—was less of a boon than it first seemed. The buxom young movie star, most recently in Woody Allen's Victoria Christina Barcelona, was among neighbors who complained about Roubini's party guests wandering the halls of their Leonard Street building, says a former tenant. The building's new policy on parties—the doorman checks off all names against an RSVP list—is apparently designed for Roubini's haphazard salons.

Dear friends, this Wednesday March 29th it is my birthday (in between a trip to Australia last week and one this coming weekend to Brazil)...I am almost sweet sixteen (time 2x or 3x)...So I will have some mellow drinks and desserts at my place starting at 9.15pm this Wednesday (this late hour as I have a wonky business dinner before, even on my b-day...) Lovely if you can make it...and please No Gifts as your charming and friendly company would be plenty... So, hope to see you Wednesday nite... 66 Leonard St. #2B Ciao, Nouriel PS: Scarlett Johansson has just bought the loft above mine - same size/layout - for a price 2.5 times what I paid for 3 years ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/rea…); so very good taste/style on her part, but you got to pay a large premium to live above the very famous - or infamous? - Roubini...lol...so, be quiet on a week nite or my neighbours will lose their Beauty Sleep...not that...