Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Three Myths About Tax Reform

My latest FEE article. An excerpt: The “correct” amount of saving, in terms of economic theory, is that which people choose in a free market. People have underlying preferences for present versus future consumption, and they engage in mutually advantageous trades — guided by interest rates — to rearrange the timing of their income and […]

More on Bad Arguments

My manager, agent, family, and closest friends have all told me to walk away, but I’m going to the barricades on this one… If Charles Krauthammer had argued, “The government should cut taxes because 2+2=4,” that would be a terrible argument. This is the case even though the premise is true, and even though I […]

An Interesting Household Saving Strategy?

I once encountered a suggestion (from a magazine, I think) that offered the following strategy to encourage household saving: Whenever buying something, only use $5 bills or higher. Then every night, empty your wallet/purse of any singles into a jar. By the end of a month, you will be shocked at how much you have saved. Now […]

Translate Piketty?

Do we have any fluent French speakers who can translate these two paragraphs, taken from an August 2014 Piketty column (HT2 Magness)? La croissance perpétuelle de la population, le dynamisme de ses universités et de ses innovations ont pour l’instant préservé le pays de cette dérive. Mais cela ne suffit plus. Une première fois déjà, […]

Scientists and Theism

I was talking to someone about the topic of scientists believing in God, and I went to look up the stats. I was fairly surprised by what I found. This was one of the top hits I got, an article in the LA Times talking about a Pew survey done in 2009. Some interesting excerpts, with bold […]

A Dreamy Argument

It’s the age-old debate: Do people wear clothes for functionality (such as staying warm or protecting feet), or do they wear clothes for style? A lot of people think the answer is “both,” but those people are no fun. I like to make it sound like I really believe it is nothing but style, except […]

Potpourri

==> My co-authors at the Fraser Institute and I have a new book out that explains economic principles to the layperson. The ideas are universal but the book is aimed at a Canadian audience. ==> When Tyler Cowen goes head-to-head against Scott Sumner, I side with Cowen. ==> Phil Magness has some fun with the […]

Murphy vs. Krauthammer on Gas Tax

My latest at IER. For you folks, here’s the part I want to highlight: First, let’s use a trick from the minimum wage debate, which I’m sure Krauthammer and other Fox contributors will appreciate. When a progressive says how great boosting the minimum wage to (say) $10/hour would be, the easiest way to show the […]