Bob Murphy

Author Archive

If the Mises Institute Did Not Exist, We Would Have to Invent It

Arnold Kling is frustrated with the prospects for libertarians. He writes: One idea, promoted at Cato by Brink Lindsey and Will Wilkinson, is liberaltarianism [sic]. The idea is to approach liberals and say, “we’re with you on social issues and we’re also dovish on foreign policy. Let us persuade you that markets are good for […]

Glenn Greenwald Points Out (Some) Progressives’ Hypocrisy on Obama vs. Bush

Another great post by GG, this time on Obama’s apologists explaining that there will be a trial for the underwear bomber because “we live under the rule of law.” Here’s GG: So in order to justify giving a civilian trial to AbdulMutallab, [Obama terrorism advisor] John Brennan cites the fact that we are “a nation […]

Rummel’s Thesis

I was reading the opening of R.J. Rummel’s Death By Government. I needed to get some stats on the crimes of communist countries, and Rummel’s book came highly recommended. I have no problems with his figures; he seemed extremely conscientious and acknowledged the limitations of the estimates. But I had trouble with his underlying thesis, […]

Potpourri

OK my Potpourri-links holder was starting to resemble the Fed’s balance sheet, so time to dump: * Bryan Caplan shows you how to get on TV [.pdf] without even shaving. * Robert Wenzel explains how the government will crash the housing market–again. * Apparently Iran’s nuclear development is similar to the planet’s “running out of […]

NYU’s Divergent Offspring: An Experiment in Austrian vs. Mainstream Economics

Von Pepe sent me this WSJ survey of economists about the economy in 2010. Michael Feroli of J.P. Morgan Chase predicted: ““We’ll have above-trend growth, low inflation, and the fed on hold through 2010.” This is interesting because Mike was the only other American in my cohort in NYU’s PhD program. It was Mike who […]

Free Advice for My Fellow Bloggers

Bryan Caplan is getting a lot of links and commentary for his suggestions of books his colleagues should write. After the burning jealousy of all this attention subsided, I realized that I too should offer such a list. So here are books or long essays that I think various people should write in the new […]

Senator Dodd Likely to Drop Out; Free Advice for Peter Schiff Campaign

CNBC reports: Leading Democratic Senator Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, will announce Wednesday that he is retiring, NBC News has learned. It is likely that once Dodd announces his decision, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told CNBC he will run for Dodd’s former Senate seat, but Blumenthal stopped short of formally announcing […]

When Murphy Debates McKitrick, the Temperature Rises

OK the post title was awful, I admit it. On my MasterResource post criticizing Ross McKitrick’s proposal to tie a carbon tax to observed temperature changes, McKitrick posted the following comment: Hello Bob and others, I’d like to respond to some of the points made here. The main concern I have in reading your posting […]