Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Same Old, Same Old: BLS Adjusts Away Two-Thirds of May’s Inflation

The trend continues. The actual CPI rose 0.3% in May–an annualized price inflation rate of 3.7%–but the BLS “seasonally adjusted” it down to 0.1%, which is a much more reasonable annualized inflation rate of 1.2%. For those of you who are newcomers, let me bring you up to speed: The BLS has “seasonally adjusted” the […]

Another Testimonial

George Smith adds his voice to the growing chorus: There are several excellent books on the Great Depression, but Robert P. Murphy’s guide is the most accessible and rebuts all the politically correct falsehoods about that era — the Fed, Hoover, Roosevelt, and World War II. With Obama on track to repeat FDR on a […]

Scott Sumner Reluctantly Agrees With Krugman on Inflation

This is a long but “neat” post by Scott Sumner. I still think he is basically wrong, but it’s always refreshing to see someone who admits when his “enemies” are right (in his mind). He also points out an odd inconsistency in Krugman’s writings: In my view Krugman is mixing science and advocacy in a […]

Potpourri

* Von Pepe sends me this 2002 Krugman piece (via Arnold Kling). The money quote: The basic point is that the recession of 2001 wasn’t a typical postwar slump, brought on when an inflation-fighting Fed raises interest rates and easily ended by a snapback in housing and consumer spending when the Fed brings rates back […]

Black Swan Hyperinflation Fund

Von Pepe passes along this story: 36 South Investment Managers Ltd., whose Black Swan Fund gained 234 percent in 2008, is raising money for a new hedge fund, betting that government efforts to pump money into economies could result in hyperinflation. The Excelsior Fund targets returns that will be five times the average annual rate […]

Krugman’s Record on Inflation Forecasts

Bob Roddis sent me this 2004 National Review piece in which Donald Luskin tears Krugman a new one, assuming the items are authentic. I don’t have the time right now, but at some point I may discuss the differing inflation forecasts of monetarists and supply-siders in the 1980s. Specifically, the ratio of M1/real GDP rose […]

Do Non-Believers Burn in Hell?

At lunch at the Rothbard Graduate Seminar last week, Walter Block was explaining that he knew some atheists who were reluctant to visit the Mises Institute because the people in Auburn “are so religious.” Walter would always tell such people not to worry, that he for example was an atheist and none of the personnel […]

More Tinkering With Official Price Statistics

The WSJ reports (HT2EPJ): The inflation gauge tracked most closely by central bank policymakers will no longer exclude restaurant prices starting next month. The government plans to add purchased meals and beverages into the “core” inflation calculation — the one that excludes other food and energy costs — when it releases comprehensive revisions to its […]