Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Jeff Should Go to More Bible Sessions

One of the biggest stories this week was the Trump Administration (because Sessions said it and then Sarah Sanders endorsed the general principle without saying she knew his exact words) stance that Romans 13 justifies the policy of separating children from their parents who have entered the country illegally (and even those seeking asylum though […]

Potpourri

==> I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that I don’t think I was very familiar with the apparently famous “Stanford prison experiment,” but my ignorance has been validated because the whole thing was a fraud. (In contrast, I always filed away Milgram’s obedience experiment as my go-to scientific confirmation of whatever political science point I wanted […]

For the Purposes of the Current Debate, I Don’t Think Hayek Supported a “Basic Income Guarantee”

This is an old Matt Zwolinski post from 2013, but they have resurrected it on social media (presumably because of its relevance to the ongoing policy debate). (Zwolinski in turn linked to his case for a BIG a few weeks before.) But I think it’s fundamentally wrong. The post is titled, “Why Did Hayek Support […]

Raimondo on Korea

Now admittedly there is an element of “I told you so!” to this essay, but Justin Raimondo’s analysis on North Korea is also very optimistic. Remember, the Chinese leadership realized hardcore communism wasn’t working, and began serious liberalization. It’s not ludicrous to think Kim wants the same, if he can figure out how to achieve […]

Potpourri

==> Medicare apparently is in some sort of financial trouble. (And remember when I did my impression of Paul Ryan and offered a proposal to let people opt out of Social Security that wouldn’t cost the government any money.) ==> I liked this Justin Raimondo take on the pundits falling onto their swooning couches over […]

Were Grateful

Michael Malice has moved his podcast “YOUR [sic] WELCOME” to the Gas Digital Network, and Episode #3 is what podcasts were designed for: It takes the libertarian (for purists, anarcho-capitalist) expert on North Korea (Malice) and puts him into a conversation with the comic strip expert on Donald Trump (Scott Adams). I am being dead […]

Murphy Interviewed by Mance Rayder

This is mostly standard stuff probably for a lot of you, but we do get into some nuances that you might like. We mostly talk economics, just a little an-cap stuff.

This Is Your Economics on TDS

When Trump says China is killing us on trade, free-market economists are quick to point out that there are positive-sum games. When pundits speculate on the impact of certain events, free-market economists often point to the stock market as the best aggregator of expert opinion. Now US defense stocks are down… Even so, because North Korea […]