Bob Murphy

Author Archive

How Chris Christie’s License Plate Scheme Adds Insult to Injury

[UPDATE: Actually, I am not sure the below is relevant, after thinking it through some more. What I will defend is the statement that if we had a long period of price ceilings, with new gasoline supplies being brought into the region but where the demand consistently were higher than the available quantity supplied, and […]

Econ 101 Works! Price Controls Cause Gas Lines

I can’t believe I had to write this up, but there were a surprising number of people who thought it was a right-wing myth to claim that it was the price controls causing gas lines, rather than the hurricane. An excerpt, and note that I make a point about stockpiling beforehand that I haven’t seen […]

My Views on Non-Voting

Here are some excerpts from an oldie but goodie I wrote for LewRockwell.com five years ago: …However, the one thing that really bothered me about this guy’s talk was that he actually told them: “Now kids, the most important thing you can do to turn around this great nation of ours is to vote. Does anyone […]

I Think Bryan Caplan Should Tweak His Quality Control Setting

Yesterday at EconLog Bryan Caplan had a post entitled “Optimal Open-Mindedness” in which he wrote: Lately a few people have accused me of being “closed-minded.” As they’d predict, I reject the accusation. I say my degree of openness is close to optimal. Consistent with Bayesian reasoning, I am as reluctant to claim vindication by events as I […]

Ricky Gervais’ Non Sequitur

On Facebook someone posted this:

Bill Hicks on Newly Elected Presidents

There is some naughty language in this, so be careful kids. I’m not saying it’s literally like this, but I think this is a heck of a lot closer to reality than the views of the people arguing with me in the comments of my earlier post.

The System Is Rigged: The Futility of Politics

[Such is the title of my article in the October issue of the Lara-Murphy Report (sample issues and subscription info here). This month we interview Dr. Murray Sabrin, who–among other things–is Professor of Finance at Ramapo College of New Jersey, is producing a documentary on the 100th anniversary of the Fed, ran for governor of […]

Krugman Explains That a Bogus Alien Invasion Would End Recession in 18 Months

Sometimes I wonder about the fate of the Austro-libertarian movement. In what I thought would be such a crystal clear post that even Matt Yglesias would personally call and apologize, I made the case that anyone who thought a bogus alien invasion would be better than the status quo, would also think a suitable hurricane […]