Bob Murphy

Author Archive

The Case for Legalizing Blackmail

Seriously I am just a rebel. Where else do you get hard-hitting stuff like this? An excerpt: The interesting aspect of this system is that it would provide an informal means of “fining” people for violating social taboos. Although this might strike some (such as Scott Sumner, whom we’ll discuss in the next section) as […]

The Bob Murphy Show, ep. 17

My interview with Alex Tabarrok is up. A fun discussion between two economists geeking out.

A Different Way to Understand Salvation Through Faith

One of the trickiest aspects of Protestantism is the notion of “salvation through faith alone,” as opposed to works. This is obviously a huge area of theological controversy, with many nuances in each denomination’s position. (This Wikipedia article gives an idea of the issues involved.) For our purposes here, the reason this doctrine seems so […]

Catching Up on Podcasts

I have been traveling a lot and I can’t remember if I posted all of these. So anyway… The Bob Murphy Show ep. 14 is my review of The Three Lads and the Lizard King. The BMS ep. 15 is my interview with David Gornoski, which got into some heavy-duty stuff about scapegoating. The BMS ep. 16 is my interview with […]

God Is Good

At the tail end of my discussion of The Three Lads and the Lizard King, I alluded to the familiar problem of evil, and how the orthodox Christian answer is a bit scandalous. Specifically, God allows evil to happen. In the book of Job, the Devil literally gets permission from God to do horrible things. Yet the Bible also shows that […]

Rob Bradley on the Energy New Deal

At his blog, Master Resource.

Yet Another Analogy on the Carbon Tax

We only have 12 years to act before I run out of analogies… Try this one kids: Should Students Support a “Point-Neutral Exam Reform?” Suppose a college math professor is very concerned about the self-esteem of her students, and so declares that for the upcoming exam, she will give each student the average of the actual scores […]