Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Is the International Status of the Dollar a Big Deal?

David R. Henderson has a thoughtful post that (among other things) endorses Paul Krugman’s recent thoughts on the significance (or lack thereof) of the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency. As David puts it, the role of seigniorage is relatively unimportant in its impact on Americans. In the comments I pushed back on David’s […]

Yglesias Psychoanalyzes Gold Bugs: Back at Ya, Matty

Matt Yglesias pokes fun at a Cato conference on the Fed (HT2 Scott Sumner). Here’s Yglesias: [T]he affinity between free market economic thinking and hard money is an interesting and important phenomenon….I do think there’s a deep logic to it. Once you concede the fact that prosperity over both the long- and short-term depends in […]

Slate Admits Sarah Palin Was Right About Death Panels

Remember in 2009 when Sarah Palin warned that Obamacare would lead to “death panels”? People ridiculed her alleged right-wing paranoia; PolitiFact christened her accusation the “Lie of the Year.” In this context, it’s ironic that a recent Slate article admits that socialized medicine goes hand in hand with government death panels. What’s even more disturbing […]

Gilligan Is Disabused of the Treasury View

I had nothing to do with the creation of this, and yes it is completely unfair. And hilarious.

Ross McKitrick Explains Why There Probably Is NOT a “Double Dividend” With Carbon Tax

I rarely get down and beg, but if you are a serious student of the economics of climate change debate, I implore you to watch Ross McKitrick’s presentation from IER’s carbon tax conference over the summer. I’m embedding the video and then adding my commentary, but for more context go read my post at IER. […]

The Non-Falsifiable “Empirical” Frameworks of Paul Krugman and Scott Sumner

[UPDATE below.] The defenders of both gentlemen will no doubt frame the matters differently, but my following summaries of four total blogs posts–two from Krugman and two from Sumner–are perfectly accurate. KRUGMAN #1: In this post Krugman endorses (with a parenthetical caveat) Raj Chetty’s claim that empirical work shows that the extension of unemployment benefits […]

Jon Stewart on Healthcare.Gov

Hilarious.

Potpourri

==> This report on how (some) schools deal with autistic kids and others with special learning needs is truly revolting. In the beginning I actually thought it was a hoax. ==> Tom Watson at Salon doesn’t want to oppose the NSA with those yucky libertarians. ==> This story reminds me of that Jack Handy bit: […]