Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Schwarzenegger’s Cryptic Veto Letter

I realize most of you have already heard about this, but in case it’s news to you: Try to decipher the hidden message in Ahnold’s veto letter. =================================To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1176 without my signature. For some time now I have lamented the fact that major […]

Atlas Sound Money Essay Contest

Full details here. An excerpt: Prizes: * The overall winner of the Essay Contest will receive a cash prize of $5000. * Two additional prizes of $1000 each will be given to outstanding essays written by junior faculty, graduate students, or policy writers. * Three additional prizes of $500 each will be given to outstanding […]

Culled From the Email Outbox: The EPA’s Estimates of Cap-and-Trade Impacts

Since I’m so busy lately I have switched to just reproducing things I write for work. Lower overhead means lower costs; I pass the savings on to you. I was giving someone a quick reaction to the EPA’s analysis of S. 1733, the Senate version (sponsored by Barbara Boxer and John Kerry) of cap-and-trade. (It […]

Like a True Superstar, Bernanke Keeps Breaking His Own Records

Don’t worry, kids, Big Ben constantly assures us he has all the tools he needs to withdraw any excess liquidity when the time is right. And if you can’t trust the Federal Reserve chairman, who(m) can you trust?

Can Somebody Tell Me What Happened in Ecuador?

From Krugman, who is quoting from here: In January 2009 Ecuador announced a series of stiff import restrictions on 630 tariff lines, affecting 8.7 percent of its ‘tariff universe’ and 23 percent of the volume of imports. Duties were raised on 369 tariff lines and quota restrictions imposed on 271 others for a one-year period. […]

More Luv From San Diego

UPDATE below… In response to this op ed, another love letter: I have to remind you of a famous quote I will paraphrase for you, “just because you think something you write is a fact, doesn’t make it a fact”. In your column titled “Is the Recession Really Ending?” You do exactly what every right […]

CBO Testimony Misleads on Cost of Cap-and-Trade

A team effort but I had a lot to do with this new IER blog post, regarding CBO Director Elmendorf’s recent testimony on the economic impacts of carbon dioxide legislation. Some of the points will be familiar to long-time readers, but one new thing I verified–after emailing with a CBO economist–is that the distinction between […]

Alan King Not Familiar With the Pronunciation of "Mises"

Stephan Kinsella passes along this incredibly unexpected video. In the midst of a pretty funny clip, Alan King reads from the obituary of Ludwig von Mises (around 3:00). Of course, King is committing a basic fallacy in trying to prove that women live longer than men, but I think he probably knows this.