Bob Murphy

Author Archive

The Case for Energy Optimism

Rob Bradley has a really good essay at EconLib this month. He leads off with this amusing quote: “I’m sorry for you—coming to Texas [in 1915] to look for oil. Don’t you know there is no oil in Texas?!” —Wallace Pratt, Consultant. Then he drops some facts on us: Petroleum…is an example of an expanding […]

Murphy vs. The Man

My Facebook “friends” already know about this, but for those who haven’t heard: Over the weekend I had to attend an 8-hour defensive driving course. Since moving to Nashville, I have accumulated too many “points” on my driving record, and this was my punishment (in addition to paying the tickets, which actually weren’t as expensive […]

Thoughts on Hell: Regrets, I’ve Had a Few…

The two biggest objections I have been getting on my Sunday blog posts are along these lines: (1) “Why would a good God let bad things happen?” and (2) “Only a sadistic being would punish us for eternity just for not worshipping/believing in him.” Today I want to concentrate on (2), although I imagine the […]

Rory Sutherland’s Ted Talk

If I told most Free Advice readers, “Hey, here’s a video of a British guy talking about psychology,” they’d be bored. But if I say, “Hey, here’s a guy who has an interesting accent and builds up to praising Ludwig von Mises,” then all of sudden they have to watch the whole thing. (Thanks to […]

Clarification on the Krugman Kampaign

Wow just when I’m sulking because Bob Wenzel is getting all the attention for his NY Fed talk, along comes a resurgence in interest in the Krugman Debate Challenge. Daniel Kuehn really impressed me with this post. I think he must have felt bad that Krugman fans were zinging me at the Reddit blog. Here’s […]

Note to Self: Bring Up These Posts When Krugman’s Fans (or the Man Himself) Explain the Refusal to Debate

If you are bored, go read Krugman’s fans’ complaints about the unethical libertarians, who had the audacity to tell their friends to vote for a question they wanted him to answer. I mean, it’s kind of like those dirty Ron Paul fans, who will vote in online polls and honestly report who their favorite candidate […]

Turning on the Bat Signal! Alert! Krugmaniacs Report to Battle Stations!

OK kids, Dr. Paul Krugman is doing a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” live chat, right now (4:45 Eastern time). If you are so inclined, please up-vote this question where I ask him about my debate challenge. The more people who up-vote it, the higher it gets bumped in the queue, and he has to stare […]