Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Jon Stewart on the Pay Czar

This is pretty funny. As usual, we are getting the worst of both worlds: Government control coupled with the very same “excesses” of a free system. If the government regulated executive pay and actually insisted on (the voters’ sense of) fairness, that would be horrible economically but at least it would make sense. The Daily […]

Full-Length Book Review by Tom Woods

In all the excitement over Rothbard Graduate Seminar this week, I neglected to blog Tom Woods’ over-the-top Mises.org review of my book on the Depression. Here’s a good excerpt: Although many readers will be able to name at least several important titles on the Depression and the New Deal, I cannot insist strongly enough that […]

Is "the Market" Forecasting Inflation?

* Let’s be frank: Those of us who expect significant price inflation–and very soon–are disagreeing with the market “consensus” as gauged by market prices. But this shouldn’t be a deal breaker. After all, “the market” incorrectly forecast real estate prices for years, and the same for oil prices in the summer of 2008. If I […]

Toward a New (?) Theory of Inflation Forecasting

[UPDATE: In the analysis below, I neglected nominal interest rates, which would allow the spot price of gold to rise over time. In my examples it wouldn’t change too much, since short-term nominal rates were so low this year. But I think this might thwart Rothbard’s general critique of Fisher, returning it to the familiar […]

Gold Is Meant to Be Money

Think for a second about how awful government provision of a service is, compared to the market outcome, in fields like education, hospital administration, and automobile production. Now realize that the government has given itself an absolute monopoly in the money production industry. Without government central planning, the market would naturally return to commodities like […]

Laffer on Inflation Outlook

I was at first surprised by how similar Arthur Laffer’s analysis in today’s WSJ matches my own, but then I realized that working for him must have shaped the way I analyze certain things. Here’s his conclusion: Alas, I doubt very much that the Fed will do what is necessary to guard against future inflation […]

Standup in Preschool

Tyler Cowen linked to this. It’s pretty funny and incredibly cute (like Tyler?).

Thinking Outside the Box on Monetary Issues

Deep Thought #1: Let’s assume for the moment that there really is a cartel of international bankers who basically run the various governments and central banks. Wouldn’t it be to their advantage to reproduce the Japanese lost decade in as many places as possible? You get a bad economy, so the public allows you to […]