Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Quick Clarification on the Great Debt Debate

My trip to NY has messed me up vis-a-vis my “day job” and so I can’t go nuts on the debt debate the way Nick Rowe is (here, here, here, and here). I hope later in the week to offer two more posts, one for the lay reader, and the other for professional economists. It […]

Admission of Error Is a Rarity in the Geeconosphere

[UPDATE: I swapped out one of the arguments in light of re-reading Glasner and realizing I misunderstood one of his defenses.] Consider the following hypothetical argument: DAVIE: Man, that George Lucas doesn’t have anything to teach us about redemption. If you watch his classic Star Wars movies, he offers a warning about people succumbing to […]

Does Metaphysics Matter?

Suppose you started your day the way you always had the last 20 years, thinking that reality itself is the result of realizations of random variables, and that the only reason life is possible in this universe is that it is one of an infinite number of possible universes. Then, at lunchtime, you somehow become […]

Curb Your Anticipation

Sorry folks, I have to finish grading…I promised my students. With the LibertyFest activities tomorrow (I’m attending, not speaking) I had better knock it out today. In the meantime, let me say the following of my two-front war which will soon open to three: ==> Everyone thinks Steve Landsburg is nuts, but actually his case […]

Harold Hotelling and Steve Landsburg vs Bob Murphy and George W. Bush

It doesn’t look good for me, does it? But give me a chance: During his commentary on the first presidential debate, Steve Landsburg wrote: 6) Romney says “all of the increase in energy has been on private land, not govt land”. Very ignorant. If there were more drilling on govt land, there’d be less on […]

David Glasner Needs to Re-Read Mises

The mischievous von Pepe dangled a recent post by David Glasner in front of me. Glasner writes: [T]he notion of unsustainability [in Austrian business cycle theory] is itself unsustainable, or at the very least greatly exaggerated and misleading. Why must the credit expansion that produced the interest-rate distortion or the price bubble come to an […]

Yet Another (More Informed) Plug for Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom

And here’s the link to fund the Murphy Christmas Initiative.

A True Example of Christian Humility

For today’s post I just want to relay something that blew me away from the sermon one of the assistant pastors gave at my church today. He was talking about the following passages from Luke: Chapter 20… 45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, 46 “Beware of the […]