Bob Murphy

Author Archive

A Sponge for Contraception Discussions

Oh man, some foolish reporter decided to cross swords with Steve Landsburg, not realizing that this is the email equivalent of invading Stalingrad. In light of my recent post, and the comments in Steve’s latest, let me clarify my own “contribution” to this saga: (1) Originally, I thought Steve’s post was hilarious. Rush Limbaugh had […]

Leon Panetta Cues the Empire Theme Music

Just watch the first 80 seconds, that’s all you need… And Panetta is right: This is a bipartisan affair.

Update on Scott Sumner Showdown

Sorry for not mentioning this sooner, but here’s an update: At my request, Scott and I have postponed our debate that was originally scheduled (I think) for January. The reason is simple: I got bogged down with “day job” stuff and couldn’t prepare. I think for sure if I had debated Scott in January, it […]

More Blogging Is Safer Blogging

Steven Landsburg is drawing heat from the president of the University of Rochester over Steve’s posts on the Limbaugh/Fluke fiasco. (If anyone is concerned, I checked with Steve to see if we should all just let this issue die away, and he basically told me, “Bring it on” [not in so many words].) First, to […]

Near-Miss On Stossel

Well here was the guy (David Barker) I was talking to in the green room at my taping with John Stossel. So far as I can tell, my clip is not available. It’s the man keeping me down! Anyway as this guy and I talked, we slowly realized that we were each as crazy as […]

I Might Apply for the New York Times

I came across this stuff on Facebook. The guy in the Cato/Koch stuff who thought highly of President G.W. Bush responded to Krugman’s recent criticism, and pointed to this very interesting Luskin post from early 2005: It’s a catfight on West 43rd Street! Former New York Times “public editor” Daniel Okrent is clawing out the […]

Landsburg Has Another Talk With Us About Sex

I have long maintained that Steve Landsburg is a modern-day Swift, whose essay “More Sex is Safer Sex” is the best critique of mainstream externality arguments ever penned. The only problem is, Landsburg was serious. Landsburg displays similar skills with the ladies in his recent posts on the Fluke fiasco. Initially, Steve expressed disappointment with […]

Krugman Admits He Doesn’t Understand Econ 101 201

I know this is a standard ploy–to decry your opponent not understanding undergrad economics–but how else can we interpret this recent statement from Krugman? 1. Even in microeconomics, we don’t insist on using models built up from maximizing behavior all the time. Exhibit A: supply and demand! I mean, we kind of know how something […]