Bob Murphy

Author Archive

PPI Down in September

The BLS reports that the seasonally adjusted PPI for Finished Goods declined 0.6% in September. (The non-seasonally adjusted PPI for All Commodities was also down 0.3%, according to FRED. I can’t find the one-month non-seasonally adjusted information in the BLS press releases anymore; I honestly think they removed it.) Incidentally, if you are curious why […]

Goldbuggery?

MercedesRules passes along this article discussing central bank machinations to suppress not only the gold price, but the “gold basis.” I have not delved into this stuff enough to tell if this is legit or crankish, but I do know that the author–Antal Fekete–has many fans. This paragraph is striking (if true): Reports are circulating […]

SuperFreak: Are You Rooting for Hitler or Stalin?

*** Brad DeLong has the infamous Chapter 5 of the forthcoming Superfreakonomics available in PDF if you want to see what all the fuss is about. *** This blogosphincter war is just getting absurd. In my short, illustrious career as blogger, I cannot recall ever having read so many personal emails being introduced as evidence […]

Smoke If You Got ‘Em

For a while now I have been predicting that the feds will loosen up the marijuana restrictions in order to bring in extra revenue, just as FDR ended Prohibition when he took over. (I’ll dig up my predictions when they become more completely satisfied.) Today CNBC reports: Feds to Issue New Medical Marijuana Policy Federal […]

Bob Higgs Doesn’t Sugarcoat It

Bob Higgs lets loose on his views of American politics (HT2 Karen De Coster): Because I despise politics in general, and the two major parties in this country in particular, I go through life constantly bemused by all the weight that people put on partisan political loyalties and on adherence to the normative demarcations the […]

SuperFight Claims Naive Academic

After this post, I am not going to bother weighing in on this particular issue anymore, because at this point you need a flowchart to keep things straight. Joe Romm has started a humongous blogosphere attack on the new Superfreakonomics book, the worst charge of which is that the authors misrepresented the views of the […]

Those Dirty Rotten Taxes

Oh man. When last we left our protagonists the children of Israel, King Solomon had asked for wisdom, and the Lord granted not only that (wise) request, but showered Solomon (David’s son) with peace and legendary riches. But then things fell apart. I’m not sure if we are supposed to infer that the wealth corrupted […]

Potpourri

* Brian Domitrovic was one of the speakers at the recent ISI conference I attended. He is a history professor but (like Tom Woods) he has the gumption to cross disciplinary lines and do very good economic analysis. Domitrovic is an avowed supply-sider, but if you think “oh so he thinks you cut taxes, receipts […]