Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Health Insurance Premium Bask

(Bask = Blog Ask for newcomers, not to be confused with a Bleg.) There is a new wave of projections for increases in health insurance premiums for 2015 (relative to 2014), and they are not heart attack inducing. But I’m concerned that something fishy may be going on with some of these relatively innocuous analyses. […]

Private Judicial Rulings and Law Enforcement

I looked this up because some people were arguing about these issues in the comments of a previous post. I’ve given this talk at Mises U several times, but I think I really nailed the private law enforcement part in this version. Specifically, from 4:00 – 22:00. I talk about the distinction between being morally […]

Clarification on Fama vs. Shiller

In the comments here at Free Advice, regarding my Mises CA post on Fama, J Mann was bringing up some good points. In response to one of his comments I wrote the following clarification, which may help some of you: J Mann wrote: If I’m being as charitable as I can to Fama, then if […]

Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S., 1999-2012

I had known that coverage fell sharply when the recession struck, but I didn’t realize how much it had been falling the entire decade, even amidst the prime housing bubble years: Depending on one’s worldview, the above chart could be spun either way. If you like ObamaCare, you could say, “See? The U.S. health care […]

Government Data Is Corrupt

I realize this is a silly thing to be posting, but does anyone know why all of the Census Excel tables on health insurance coverage are “corrupt” according to my Excel program? I’m using a MacBook and MS 2007 for Mac if that helps. It won’t even let me open the files.

Thoughts on Europe

I vaguely remember in grade school they taught us a short list of the causes of World War I. One was the assassination of the archduke. The other was a two-word phrase. I can’t remember it now. Neither does President Obama, apparently.

It’s Because I Care

Not that many of you care, but I just realized that lately I’ve been “attacking” EconLog posts pretty frequently. That’s not because I have some kind of vendetta, but on the contrary it’s because I’ve been really busy and so I only keep up with a few of my favorite economics blogs.

I’m So Mischievous

3 days after Bryan Caplan asks on EconLog why gov't water works so well, the Featured EconLib article explains how gov't caused CA drought. — Robert P. Murphy (@BobMurphyEcon) September 3, 2014 The links are here and here.