You, together with Tom Woods, should get t-shirts that say “f* you, we are phd’s”. I don’t understand why you care about those phony credentials that much. You’d probably say you were kidding, but that’s just half true.
To be fair, that’s probably the only complaint i have of you two (that and maybe believing in a magical man in the sky).
Of course, in reality I am sure Bob knows that you don’t need a PhD to be a great economist, historian, philosopher, etc; but it is still generally seen as a credential of credibility by most of the general public, as well as in academia.
Now, I never went to college, but I do know a few guys that have post-graduate degrees. Some of them never had to pay for their Master and most of them wouldn’t have to pay for their PhD at all. I would say that is the case and if you aren’t doing anything else that is pressing, why not do it?
Now, these guys could be “blowing smoke…”, but I wouldn’t know because I never got past year one.
Some of them never had to pay for their Master and most of them wouldn’t have to pay for their PhD at all.
It’s funny you bring that up, Joseph. When Stefan said, “And do you know how much I saved [by not getting a PhD]?” I think the layperson answer is, “$0,” assuming he really could have gotten a PhD. I mean, he could have been referring to opportunity cost, but I think he was implying that he made a rational weighing of the pros and cons of the big tuition cost of getting a PhD.
And yes visose, I should say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
To be honest, I would be more inclined to say that the layperson answer would be “thousands of dollars”. I certainly didn’t know how education funding worked past undergrad before I knew people that had progressed beyond that level. In fact, I would say that it is this belief amongst the laypeople that make his joke work.
Oh yeah, and on opportunity cost, I am pretty cognizant of that, that’s why I said “if you aren’t doing anything else that is pressing, why not do it?”
At this point in my life, even if I was offered a free-ride, I would still turn it down.
Great job, man. Yeah, you could tell that the MC was completely trashed, but then again, I probably would have been, too. You had me rolling when you said, “I hope that she’s just stoned and I’m not making fun of Corky, or something”. The ‘ol Sean Connery ‘Last Crusade’ line was pretty hilarious, too.
I had actually considered going to that fest, I am sure I would have had a great time. I just couldn’t find anybody else that wanted to go on a road trip (it would have been kind of a hassle for me, as well). Oh well, maybe next year.
I’ve, been reading your stuff awhile but only wrote once before (it was of little substance – just a joke about Wittgenstein and your blog). I probably disagree with over 50% of your major views, some deeply (like the gold standard) but felt I needed to say that I respect you a great deal and have learned a good deal from reading your stuff. Even when I disagree, you make me have to think harder and I usually discover I was making some lousy assumptions or conclusions too. You argue with intellectual integrity, openly admit when you’re wrong without playing games, and will give credit and even support to your adversaries when they’re right rather than double down with BS or ignore them to make political hay at any cost.
If only more economists followed your example (including Krugman, whose economic views I tend to agree with more than yours) they wouldn’t have let the profession sink to the level of looking like intellectually dishonest partisan shills. But I have to call it the way I see it and at this point in history it is the right/Republicans that seem most infected with this disease coupled with virulent anti-intellectualism. I hope people like you will regain the high ground on the right and make it respectable for people like me to vote for a conservative again some day. Otherwise, the entire country will continue to suffer. We need a national discourse from both parties that functions much more like your blog.
I don’t know what happened. This is not the blog I thought I’d responded to. And you’re not the same Bob Murphy I thought I was responding to. OK, just kidding on the second part.
I thought it was funny but I’m a little confused by the video though, what do you actually think of Stefan, or intellectuals without PHD’s?
I mean the people he has helped and the the reach of his work in the last few years c;early has had a bigger impact on the world then just reading some books and writing some papers for peer review by professors who leech off of the state for undue benefits.
I personally dropped out of college because I couldn’t take the narrow minded top down approach that universities seem to have these days. I think it’s a little backward and anti-free market that universities still throw a few hundred students in front of a professor (who usually has no real life experience) and expect them to merely recite the views in accordance with a curriculum regulated by the state.
Currently I’m living in China as an entrepreneur, and the experience and knowledge I have gained during the past few years puts most of my classmates who eventually earned MA’s in economics to shame 🙂
Correct me if I’m wrong, but i believe Charles Darwin never finished high school an eventually only earned his BA.
From an article i just read on forbes:
“Some of The Forbes 400 have Ph.D.s; far more never finished college. ”
Keep up the good work, and of course I regard the Mises Institute as an exception that makes the rule~
You, together with Tom Woods, should get t-shirts that say “f* you, we are phd’s”. I don’t understand why you care about those phony credentials that much. You’d probably say you were kidding, but that’s just half true.
To be fair, that’s probably the only complaint i have of you two (that and maybe believing in a magical man in the sky).
I take your opinions quite seriously, visose. Thanks for sharing.
I know you do, but only because I have a doctorate from the university of ZING.
Of course, in reality I am sure Bob knows that you don’t need a PhD to be a great economist, historian, philosopher, etc; but it is still generally seen as a credential of credibility by most of the general public, as well as in academia.
Now, I never went to college, but I do know a few guys that have post-graduate degrees. Some of them never had to pay for their Master and most of them wouldn’t have to pay for their PhD at all. I would say that is the case and if you aren’t doing anything else that is pressing, why not do it?
Now, these guys could be “blowing smoke…”, but I wouldn’t know because I never got past year one.
Some of them never had to pay for their Master and most of them wouldn’t have to pay for their PhD at all.
It’s funny you bring that up, Joseph. When Stefan said, “And do you know how much I saved [by not getting a PhD]?” I think the layperson answer is, “$0,” assuming he really could have gotten a PhD. I mean, he could have been referring to opportunity cost, but I think he was implying that he made a rational weighing of the pros and cons of the big tuition cost of getting a PhD.
And yes visose, I should say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
To be honest, I would be more inclined to say that the layperson answer would be “thousands of dollars”. I certainly didn’t know how education funding worked past undergrad before I knew people that had progressed beyond that level. In fact, I would say that it is this belief amongst the laypeople that make his joke work.
Oh yeah, and on opportunity cost, I am pretty cognizant of that, that’s why I said “if you aren’t doing anything else that is pressing, why not do it?”
At this point in my life, even if I was offered a free-ride, I would still turn it down.
“I don’t understand why you care about those phony credentials that much.”
Says someone incapable of earning that phony credential.
Great job, man. Yeah, you could tell that the MC was completely trashed, but then again, I probably would have been, too. You had me rolling when you said, “I hope that she’s just stoned and I’m not making fun of Corky, or something”. The ‘ol Sean Connery ‘Last Crusade’ line was pretty hilarious, too.
I had actually considered going to that fest, I am sure I would have had a great time. I just couldn’t find anybody else that wanted to go on a road trip (it would have been kind of a hassle for me, as well). Oh well, maybe next year.
Bob,
I’ve, been reading your stuff awhile but only wrote once before (it was of little substance – just a joke about Wittgenstein and your blog). I probably disagree with over 50% of your major views, some deeply (like the gold standard) but felt I needed to say that I respect you a great deal and have learned a good deal from reading your stuff. Even when I disagree, you make me have to think harder and I usually discover I was making some lousy assumptions or conclusions too. You argue with intellectual integrity, openly admit when you’re wrong without playing games, and will give credit and even support to your adversaries when they’re right rather than double down with BS or ignore them to make political hay at any cost.
If only more economists followed your example (including Krugman, whose economic views I tend to agree with more than yours) they wouldn’t have let the profession sink to the level of looking like intellectually dishonest partisan shills. But I have to call it the way I see it and at this point in history it is the right/Republicans that seem most infected with this disease coupled with virulent anti-intellectualism. I hope people like you will regain the high ground on the right and make it respectable for people like me to vote for a conservative again some day. Otherwise, the entire country will continue to suffer. We need a national discourse from both parties that functions much more like your blog.
Best regards,
Andy
Thanks Andy but I’m surprised that this particular post elicited that comment. I was going more for cheap laughs on this one.
I don’t know what happened. This is not the blog I thought I’d responded to. And you’re not the same Bob Murphy I thought I was responding to. OK, just kidding on the second part.
If you can move it that would be great. Here’s the blog I meant to comment on:
http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2012/01/these-keynesians-make-a-lot-of-sense.html
Good, (reasonably) clean fun, Doc!
With a little work, you could open for Yoram Bauman (Ph.D., ha, ha): http://www.standupeconomist.com/videos-public/
Thanks John G. And here was Bauman’s funniest routine yet.
Oohh! That’s gotta hurt.
Wow! I had no idea he was a ‘Mixed Up Economist,’ too.
Maybe he should give up his day job, and stick to comedy.
Just my personal opinion, I think that he’s primarily a neo-classical micro guy that has a knack for econometrics. So, yeah. He’s kind of “mixed up”.
I thought it was funny but I’m a little confused by the video though, what do you actually think of Stefan, or intellectuals without PHD’s?
I mean the people he has helped and the the reach of his work in the last few years c;early has had a bigger impact on the world then just reading some books and writing some papers for peer review by professors who leech off of the state for undue benefits.
I personally dropped out of college because I couldn’t take the narrow minded top down approach that universities seem to have these days. I think it’s a little backward and anti-free market that universities still throw a few hundred students in front of a professor (who usually has no real life experience) and expect them to merely recite the views in accordance with a curriculum regulated by the state.
Currently I’m living in China as an entrepreneur, and the experience and knowledge I have gained during the past few years puts most of my classmates who eventually earned MA’s in economics to shame 🙂
Correct me if I’m wrong, but i believe Charles Darwin never finished high school an eventually only earned his BA.
From an article i just read on forbes:
“Some of The Forbes 400 have Ph.D.s; far more never finished college. ”
Keep up the good work, and of course I regard the Mises Institute as an exception that makes the rule~