Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Persuasion Is More Powerful Than Violence

My latest Liberty Chat post pushes back against people trying to blame radical libertarian rhetoric for the recent shooting of two police officers in Las Vegas. An excerpt: Thus we see that if the SPLC and others try to pin such violence on “anti-government rhetoric” then they have failed to carefully digest what the principled […]

Potpourri

==> My latest Mises CA post points out that Krugman has a very low bar for ObamaCare. David R. Henderson made different points about the same Krugman post, but I wanted to focus on just one issue in my post. ==> Ron Paul talks about the Spitznagel goat situation. ==> The Free State Project’s Carla […]

No, We’re Not Inventing 1973 as the Starting Point for “Income Inequality” Stats

Judging from the comments in a previous post, you’d think that Dave Howden made up the idea that income inequality starting rising in 1973. No, that’s the low point, using the Piketty-Saez figures. Howden didn’t pick that number, progressives typically do when quoting figures. Just from a quick one that I googled: As Isabel Sawhill […]

Potpourri

==> Bryan Caplan points out a problem with the stand-up economist’s cartoon introduction to climate change. ==> If you’re a fan of musician Tatiana Moroz, I encourage you to check out her “TatianaCoin” project. It’s an interesting way for fans to crowdfund artists using altcoins. ==> Phillip Magness summarizes outstanding data problems with Piketty. ==> […]

David Howden on Inequality

David Howden has a Mises CA post talking about the usual stats on income inequality. They typically start in 1973. (In a later post I’ll explain why they choose that date; it’s to goose the numbers.) Here’s Howden: What happened in the early 1970s to explain the divergence? Maybe it was the end of the […]

On “Following Jesus”

There is an intriguing gospel story that, prima facie, suggests that Christianity is incompatible with earthly riches: Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler 16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good[a] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you […]

Is the State More Like a Gym or an Army?

Not surprisingly, Gene Callahan did not care for my novel analysis of General Zod’s (brief) domination of planet Earth. Yet in his attempt to show how much I was misconstruing the average person’s support for the State, Gene seems to give away the whole game. Here’s Gene: Bob Murphy claims “Thus, the average person defends […]

Potpourri

==> The Detroit authorities are threatening to seize a billionaire hedge fund manager’s goats, which are grazing on land that the authorities claim is public. Bundy Ranch 2.0? (Just kidding. And it’s Mark Spitznagel.) ==> Richard Ebeling discusses the wisdom of Adam Smith. ==> An awesome photo of Milton Friedman and very young David R. […]