Bob Murphy

Author Archive

More Evidence That Bryan Caplan Is the Funniest Econ Blogger

From today: I’ve been having an extended Twitter discussion about the history of women’s liberty with Cato’s Jason Kuznicki (@JasonKuznicki), the Atlantic’s Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo), and others. I find some of the issues hard to address in 140 characters, so I’m moving my thoughts here.

John McCain Agrees With My Assessment of the Two-Party System

I’m sure this has already made the rounds, but I don’t have a TV…

Potpourri

==> I missed this when he first posted it, but Silas Barta has a good contribution on the broken window debate, and how it relates to “recalculation.” I think if Tyler Cowen had written the exact same blog post (scattered with references to classic papers in the literature) people would be doubled over at the […]

Palm Sunday: The Fickle Public

Today is “Palm Sunday.” Here is how the gospel of Matthew describes it (Chapter 21): 1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with […]

Potpourri

==> This article about “how modern men are trained to hate women” is actually really insightful. It’s supposed to be entertaining and has lots of absurd photos, but I actually think the guy makes some good points. ==> Even though he and I don’t see eye-to-eye on everything in the “free banking” argument, I must […]

Utilitarians Might Want to Save This Defense for Later

Bryan Caplan: The key difference between a normal utilitarian and a Leninist: When a normal utilitarian concludes that mass murder would maximize social utility, he checks his work! He goes over his calculations with a fine-tooth comb, hoping to discover a way to implement beneficial policy changes without horrific atrocities. The Leninist, in contrast, reasons […]

Krugman Gets Hit Hard by “Please” and “Thank You”

So here’s Paul Krugman describing his journalistic intrepidity and victimization by an evil corporation: Predictably, the letter from Corrections Corporation of America has arrived, demanding a correction on yesterday’s column. Strangely, though, it demands that I correct statements I didn’t make, just things CCA claims I implied. I don’t think that passes the test; maybe […]

GUEST POST: “My Adventure as a Ron Paul Delegate”

Editor’s note: This is John Connolly’s follow-up post to an earlier one, in which he explained Ron Paul’s delegate strategy. John is a Ron Paul delegate in Washington.–RPM ==================== My Adventure as a Ron Paul Delegate: The Media Gets It Wrong by John Connolly As I stated in my first post, there is a vast […]