Bob Murphy

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Potpourri

==> Some of you may have heard of the ethanol “blend wall.” In brief, the US government is literally requiring gasoline refiners to do contradictory things: One regulation insists they make the gas content higher than 10 percent ethanol, while another regulation forbids them from doing so. My colleague Mary Hutzler was the lead author […]

Was the Iraq Invasion “About Oil”?

This is a great question, and David R. Henderson’s answer is what I would say. The only difference is, I am less confident that it is right, as compared to David’s apparent confidence. Here’s what he said: [W]as the second war against Iraq about oil? In a sense it was, and in a sense it […]

Progressives Call Our Bluff on Minimum Wage

You know how some of us knee-jerk libertarians were scolded–by friends and foes alike–for saying, “Well gee Mr. President, if raising the minimum wage to $9/hour is a good idea, why not $20 or $100?” Well now we’re getting dangerously close to this. There’s now a video floating around the Intertubes, praised by progressive pundits […]

Update on Krugman Debate

Nothing new here, but some of you might prefer video to text: And here’s where you make your pledge…

Potpourri

==> An excerpt from Guido Hulsmann’s introduction to (what we know as) The Theory of Money & Credit. Incidentally, I wrote a Study Guide for this book, and believe me, it’s not as intimidating as it first appears. If you have always wanted to be the type of person to read it, but thought you […]

You Can’t Judge a Man By His Fans, Of Course…

…but this is still funny. Gus Spanier sent me this note: I posted a comment on this video referring to your debate challenge to Mr. Krugman. I [received] this reply from a Krugman supporter. “Austria is not America. Murphy thinks that Austria is a super power that prints it’s own money. Why on earth would […]

Responding to a Particular Argument on the Minimum Wage

Before my trip, someone on Facebook asked me to respond to his perspective on the minimum wage. He thought the free-marketeers, by rushing to their textbooks, were overlooking something important. I’ll try to distill his position down into a single paragraph (in my words), then respond: CRITIC OF STANDARD FREE-MARKET DISCOURSE ON MINIMUM WAGE: I’m […]

Sentences That Nowadays Would Disqualify You as Finance Minister of Austria

“How many an Indian tribe, in its foolish eagerness for pleasure, has sold to the palefaces the land of its fathers, the reservoir of its means of sustenance, in return for a few barrels of ‘firewater’!” — Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk, The Positive Theory of Capital, page 268