Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Potpourri

==> This is the feel-good story of the week. (I have particular interest in this one, because the heroine of this tale is good friends with some of my libertarian activist buddies. So it is neat to see her being Internet celebrity for a while.) Of course, this poor guy must now be terrified. He […]

At This Point, I’m Pretty Sure Rand Paul Doesn’t Know Much Accounting

OK I was giving him the benefit of the doubt when, in his speech in Des Moines, Rand Paul said “assets” when he meant “equity.” But then for a written piece for Breitbart–which appeared 4 days after the speech, and so presumably Paul and his staff had seen how people on Bloomberg etc. pounced on his misstatement […]

I Have Found a Nobel Economist Calling Krugman’s Walmart Article Crankish

[UPDATE below.] Remember in his recent Walmart piece that Krugman wrote: Conservatives — with the backing, I have to admit, of many economists — normally argue that the market for labor is like the market for anything else. The law of supply and demand, they say, determines the level of wages, and the invisible hand […]

Krugman on Walmart and the Minimum Wage

He really outdid himself on this one, as I explain in my latest Mises CA post. An excerpt: [I]t is a very strange argument to say, as Krugman does, that since we observe Walmart raising wages voluntarily, that therefore having the government force other firms to do so involuntarily won’t cause any major problems. Look, […]

Evaluating the Iranian Nuclear Threat

I am a professional economist, not a military strategist or historian. Nonetheless, I think I can offer some perspective on typical arguments for U.S. government military action. Consider the following excerpt from a NYT article by Chris Hedges, titled, “Iran May Be Able to Build an Atomic Bomb in 5 Years, U.S. and Israeli Officials […]

Potpourri

==> Chase Chandler writes on Nelson Nash, Mark Spitznagel, and Nassim Taleb. (BTW at the Nelson Nash Institute YouTube channel, you can see my extended interview with Nash, if you don’t know of him.) ==> I’ve asked on Facebook but the people there didn’t really answer my specific question. Does anyone know, do the Wonkette […]

Potpourri

==> Scott Sumner agreed that I checkmated him, but for some reason took it really well. ==> Oh no… Alex Tabarrok too has succumbed to the “open borders” label. OK let me try it this way: Hey everybody, let’s start a movement called “Open Bank Vaults.” Now some of you are going to get huffy […]

Potpourri

==> I am pretty sure this is checkmate for Scott’s attempt to reason from a price change regarding the ECB. Note, I’m not claiming I’ve won the whole tournament–just this particular game. ==> I break out my undergrad Public Choice text to argue that the work of Niskanen is at serious tension with (some of) […]