Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Why Are Progressive Economists So Afraid of Negative Comments?

Believe it or not, I actually agree with Paul Krugman’s harsh assessment of Superfreakonomics. (Before you chalk this up to my evenhandedness, keep in mind that I am still jealous of the success of Freakonomics.) But what the heck? In both posts (here and here), Krugman shuts off the comments from the get-go. His explanation: […]

I Don’t Get No Respect, I Tell Ya

For those who are curious, check out Silas Barta’s attempt to use Jedi mind tricks to embarrass me in my challenge to evolutionary psychology. But if Silas read EPJ, he would know that I am similar in many ways to Jabba the Hut.

"Which is what happens when you call the Feds!"

One of my favorite scenes in Firefly–a show that was taken from us much too soon–is from the episode “Ariel” when Jayne tries to collect the reward on the fugitives traveling with them, and the official with whom he had the deal ends up arresting Jayne and trying to collect the bounty himself. Now I […]

Assuming a Can Opener?

Something is screwy in the health care debate. Advocates of “reform” keep repeating a point that doesn’t make sense to me. I’ll quote Krugman, but others are saying it too: As I said, the individual mandate probably should be stronger than it is in the Finance Committee’s bill. But there’s a reason the mandate was […]

Wow I Must Annoy Bryan Caplan

When it comes to his observations on children, I simply refuse to believe his two counterintuitive claims: (1) Parents don’t matter. (2) Children were never a good investment, even for families in traditional agricultural societies. As I say, Bryan must be incredibly frustrated with someone like me who basically says, “I don’t care what data […]

The Pot Calling the Kettle a Pot

Paul Krugman, Oct. 16, 2009: For a long time, there’s been an accepted way for commentators on politics and to some extent economics to distinguish themselves: by shocking the bourgeoisie, in ways that of course aren’t really dangerous… Clever snark like this can get you a long way in career terms — but the trick […]

Bullet Points

* On a recent trip in a Buddy Holly plane, Nature called so urgently that I actually had to go in the prop jet’s bathroom, which had roughly the volume of a basketball for the WNBA. I wasn’t particularly nervous about the talk I was going to give, so I concluded that it must have […]

Theists Don’t Get No Respect, I Tell Ya

I am responding to posts by secular Austrian fellow travelers, so this doesn’t violate my policy of only bringing up religion on Sundays. And I will keep this a broad issue of theism vs. atheism; no J-word. Example #1: Gene Callahan acts in his typical fashion of winning hearts and minds. (A choice quote: “Oh, […]