Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Time Machine Bask

I am sorry to post this here, but the stuff via Google search seems unhelpful. I have a MacBook Air. When I first plugged in an external Seagate USB 3.0 drive back in May, Time Machine knew to automatically back up the whole thing. Great. Now, whenever I try to plug the Seagate back in […]

Puzzles on Labor Demand Elasticity?

We typically think the demand curve for labor is downward sloping, right? Empirically, the modal estimate of the elasticity of labor demand is something like -0.4. (So a 10% increase in wages means a 4% drop in the number of workers employers want to hire.) So in light of the fact that we know the […]

Provocative Potpourri

==> Tom Woods has an ensemble on to explain why Murray Rothbard was important. And if you protest, “Why are you guys so sectarian?!” all I can say is, “They started it!!” ==> Oh, now that I’ve posted my sample Liberty Classroom lecture, I don’t mind posting this Contra Krugman episode where we mention the […]

Sample “Liberty Classroom” Lecture on Bohm-Bawerk

As 3 of you know, my doctoral dissertation focused on the work of Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk. I was thrilled to be able to devote three of my lectures in my course for Tom Woods’ “Liberty Classroom” to Bohm-Bawerk’s work. Partly because I think even Mises and Rothbard misunderstood what Bohm-Bawerk was saying, I decided this […]

David Friedman Bask

(Remember, we don’t beg on this blog, we ask.) In a recent EconLog post, Bryan Caplan quotes from Friedman’s book *Hidden Order*: Economists are often accused of believing that everything – health, happiness, life itself – can be measured in money. What we actually believe is even odder. We believe that everything can be measured […]

Michigan Reform

With co-authors, I have a new study from the Fraser Institute documenting the surprisingly sharp economic turnaround in Michigan. (We contrast it with Ontario.)

European Banks and Nashville Seminars

Carlos and I discuss European banks in the latest Lara-Murphy Show. We are going to be presenting on IBC for the general public with Nelson Nash–it’s his farewell seminar for Nashville–on Saturday August 13, 2016. Details here.

Potpourri

==> I really don’t have time to jump into this, but FWIW, the WSJ ran a story criticizing Piketty. (You will not be surprised to hear that Daniel Kuehn on Facebook thought this was a ridiculous critique because of course Piketty never said what all of Piketty’s fans thought he said…) ==> I haven’t read […]