Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Don’t Play Cards With Jacob

[UPDATE below.] I recently made the full circuit in my nightly Bible reading, and now I’m back in Genesis. I don’t have much profound to say in this post, except to note that yikes Jacob (son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham) was one crafty fellow. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the Bible knows […]

Yet Another Attempt at the Government Debt and Future Generations Issue

Whoa, I almost spared all of you by forgetting to link to my latest article in the Freeman. I did my best to summarize what is wrong with the we-owe-it-to-ourselves “insight” on government debt. I’m pretty sure the example I spell out in the article is new. Anyway, here is the conclusion: If an imperialist […]

Krugman on the Fed and Plutocrats

Well, I am nipping at Krugman’s heels on this one, but I’m out of free articles for the month and I refuse to subscribe to the New York Times. I will show you guys what I’ve gotten so far, and maybe some of you can carry it over the finish line. In today’s blog post, […]

Potpourri

* If you’re the type of person who thinks it’s obvious that the Titanic should have had more lifeboats, then you’re obviously not an economist. (I’m not being snarky; I’ve often thought along the same lines as Steve Landsburg on this topic.) * When people criticize my theories on private police and judicial services, they […]

Thoughts on Obama’s Crackdown on Oil Speculators

I’m a hot little tamale over at IER’s blog today. An excerpt: Successful speculation in the commodities markets serves a useful role in reducing price volatility and providing liquidity. By jacking up the penalties on ill-defined crimes, the Administration will actually make oil prices move more erratically. The president’s finger-wagging at the big bad speculators […]

East Coast and West Coast Togetha on Graeber

OK, Nashville’s not on the east coast, but in the title I’m trying to get across that Brad DeLong and I see eye-to-eye when it comes to David Graeber’s magisterial Debt: The First 5,000 Years. When I first posted my critical review of Graeber’s book, in the comments Dan Hewitt pointed us to Brad DeLong’s […]

Now I Can’t Get to Colombia!

The recently-passed Senate Bill 1813 has an interesting provision: SEC. 40304. REVOCATION OR DENIAL OF PASSPORT IN CASE OF CERTAIN UNPAID TAXES. (a) In General- Subchapter D of chapter 75 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: ‘SEC. 7345. REVOCATION OR DENIAL OF PASSPORT […]

Learn Principles of Economics Online

Hey everybody, just a reminder that Wednesday my Mises Academy class starts, highlighting the most important stuff for a beginner from my Lessons for the Young Economist. Here is the infomercial about the course, and note we now have a screen shot of the syllabus.