Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Why Money Doesn’t Measure Value

Marc Miles (an economist I’ve cited in some of my more mainstream policy work) was also flummoxed by the mischievous David Gordon, so I thought I needed to be the diplomat. The best part of the post: [S]uppose the government follows Forbes and Ames’ advice, and pegs the dollar-price of an ounce of gold. Then […]

The Three Lads and the Lizard King

I wrote a story for my son and decided others might enjoy it as well. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, let me say that this is the most important thing I have ever written; if I had to pick one item summarizing what I’ve learned so far in life, this would be it. There’s […]

The Science Is Settled on the Threat of Man-Made Price Change

In a recent post I reproduced this funny excerpt from Cliff Asness’ thoughts on his 2010 open letter to Ben Bernanke warning of (price) inflation: At the risk of enraging a whole different group (I promise I’m not denying anything I’m just making an analogy, and one I know is very far from dead on) […]

A Carbon Tax Will Be Set By Politics, Not Science

In this latest IER post I walk through a blog from an enviro group in the Northwest, discussing revenue projections for Washington State if they impose a stiff carbon tax. My favorite part: I encourage the reader to look again at the part I’ve put in bold from Eberhard’s commentary. Notice that she didn’t write, […]

Potpourri

==> This is a video I broadcast from a bunker to celebrate Mises’ birthday. ==> Ian Cioffi gives tips on how to make money hosting liberty events. So read up, and then hire me to speak! ==> Looks like I picked the right place to settle down. Apparently Nashville cops told the Secret Service to […]

Be Like Ezra

We covered this in church today and it really struck me (Ezra 7: 9-10): 9 [Ezra] had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 For […]

Two LibertyChat Posts

==> In this one I explain that the term “Open Borders” has collapsed in face of the Ebola scare. And I don’t just mean among critics–Bryan Caplan himself literally admitted that he would be OK with a minor deviation from his principle because of Ebola. So…where does that leave the “Open Borders” movement? ==> […]

John Tamny Needs to Stop Lecturing People on Mises’ Monetary Views

You guys know I’m a big softie, but Tamny’s sarcastic finger-wagging at David Gordon was just too painful to bear. The specific controversy was whether Mises thought money was a “measuring rod” of value. (He did NOT.) Details here. But for my analogy: I don’t mean to be histrionic about it, but for anyone who is […]