Bob Murphy

Author Archive

The Policeman Is Not Your Friend, 10-year-old Girl Edition

Here’s a good one (HT2LRC): Police Officer Uses Taser On 10-Year-Old Girl OZARK, Ark. — Ozark police said they were called to a home where a mother asked for help with her unruly child, but the 10-year-old’s father said he’s outraged at the force police used against his daughter. “I would like to say Ozark […]

Where’s That Inflation?

Veronique de Rugy tackles the big question in her Reason column, and quotes me. And yikes, compared to the other serious academics, the quotes from Free Advice sound very uppity.

WSJ Punts On Explaining Risk-Taking

This article (HT2 Dan Simmons) is actually pretty good in explaining the logic behind Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick’s decision to go for it (rather than punt) on 4th down with the ball in his own territory and his team with a small lead. Since the Patriots were stopped and ended up losing the game, tons […]

Tyler Cowen on Health Care: So Close, Yet So Far Away

I knock Tyler Cowen a lot far not being “hardcore” enough on the free market. So I do want to say I’ve been very impressed by how much he’s sticking his neck out in opposing ObamaCare (or PelosiCare or whatever slur you want to use). And yet, poor Tyler can’t bring himself to just say, […]

CNBC: "3.7% Annualized Inflation Rate Is Tame"

On its main page CNBC linked to this article with the headline “Inflation at Bay as Wholesale Prices Remain Tame.” As with just about every blurb of this nature, I have to ask: What is the cutoff point at which inflation is not at bay? From the article: U.S. producer prices rose more slowly than […]

Jeffrey Tucker Continues His Assault on IP

I admit there are still some areas that make me uneasy, but ever since reading Stephan Kinsella’s “Against Intellectual Property” [.pdf] I have thought IP cannot stand. At Mises.org Jeff Tucker goes over one of the latest absurdities flowing from the principle of owning ideas: Some Harvard professors are taking very seriously their “intellectual property […]

The Economic Consensus on Climate Change Legislation?

Agnostic readers will be relieved to see that I have an IER post that does not mention the Holy Spirit: The Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) recently released a survey [.pdf] of 144 leading economists who have published peer-reviewed articles on climate change. In the media blitz accompanying the release of the study, IPI spokespeople […]