Bob Murphy

Author Archive

The Policeman Is Your…

The thing that is disturbing about this video is the guy on the phone is the only rational person in the whole scene. Listen to how he talks to the 911 operator, for example. By the end of the video, the cop comes over, yells at him, hangs up his phone, and tosses it onto […]

Ms. Yellen, It’s a Trap!

That Larry Summers is one sly dog. With his “surprise” move to continue QE3, Big Ben just bought himself some time to safely exit the scene, following the pattern of the last two Fed handovers: (It should go without saying that the red lines above are only approximately correct. You can tell I don’t have […]

A Sleeper Hit

I always get email notifications that people are leaving comments on this video: I barely ever click on them, but for kicks I did, and the guy said, “I’m glad this video has so few views…I feel bad for your students Murphy” (or something like that). So I was curious and checked it, and there […]

Geometry Is Definitely Analytic in This Anecdote

I was trying to show my 8-year-old some stuff in geometry over the weekend. First I drew a generic rectangle and asked him what it was. He of course identified it as a rectangle. Then I asked him to tell me why it was a rectangle, and we began making a list that I titled, […]

Scott Sumner Is of Two Minds When It Comes to the Monetary Approach of Michael Woodford

Apparently it’s “Bash Scott” month here at Free Advice, but again, I don’t think I’m quibbling over trivialities here: Back on September 10, Scott wrote a post titled, “Listen to the expert” which quoted a news article touting Columbia University’s Michael Woodford as one the world’s most important and influential scholars publishing on monetary policy. […]

Even More Sumner Shenanigans

I almost feel bad piling on Scott, because although I disagree with his monetary views tremendously, I actually think he’s a cool guy with a good sense of humor. But this is science; we must be merciless. When the news broke yesterday that Larry Summers was pulling his name out of the running for Fed […]

Potpourri

==> The WSJ and I are pen pals. ==> Next week on Friday (September 27) I’ll be giving a talk at San Jose State on interventionism in the Austrian tradition. (I’m in California because on Saturday I’m giving the keynote address for a celebration of Mises’ birthday. I still haven’t gotten his present, gah!!) ==> […]

Seeing Through Jonah’s Excuse

In church today we started the book of Jonah. I’m sure everybody, believer and skeptic alike, knows the basic plot of the story: God commands Jonah to go to the great city of Ninevah and tell the wicked people there that God is going to destroy them. Jonah runs away, is swallowed by a fish […]