Bob Murphy

Author Archive

What Will It Take to End the Recession?

Mario Rizzo has (as usual) an interesting post over at ThinkMarkets on the possible end of the present recession. I personally am withholding judgment on whether the “recession is over,” as many analysts seem to think. But even if, years from now, the NBER finally decides that yep, the recession lasted from Dec 2007 to […]

USPS Forever Stamps as Inflation Hedge?

I’m going to be at the Mises Circle in Dallas (or is it Fort Worth?) this weekend, so blogging may be sparse. In the meantime, can somebody convince me why I shouldn’t buy $1000 worth of “Forever” stamps from the Post Office? Absolute worst scenario, Krugman is right–and yes, that would be the worst scenario […]

The Connection Between Government Debt and Price Inflation

Back when I was a college professor, I would always drill home to my students that government budget deficits didn’t cause (price) inflation per se. For example, if the country were on a gold standard with 100% reserves in the banking system, then the total quantity of money wouldn’t have anything to do with how […]

Slope of Yield Curve at Record High

The econogeek blogosphere is abuzz because the slope of the yield curve is at a record high. Here’s the chart from Calculated Risk (HT2 Greg Mankiw): Whenever I see a chart of a spread, especially when it’s over a long time frame, I like to see its constituents: The yield curve holds a revered place […]

Krugman Contradicts Krugman on California

Earlier this week Paul Krugman’s NYT column discussed the sorry state of California finances. According to Krugman, the reason the Golden State is in such a hole these last few years, is because of a tax revolt in 1978: The seeds of California’s current crisis were planted more than 30 years ago, when voters overwhelmingly […]

Cost/Benefit of Waxman-Markey: It’s Not Pretty

I actually spent a good portion of my holiday weekend researching for / writing this MasterResource post on Waxman-Markey. A juicy part: Now we see the weakness in [relying on the “social cost of carbon”], when trying to assess the net benefits of unilateral climate policy. Once we take leakage into account, we see that […]

Samwick’s Juvenile Argument Against the Tea Parties

Editor’s Note: In a recent post I summoned the Thundercats and they responded as usual. This post relies on their sleuthing. I’d also like to thank YouTube.–RPM Andrew Samwick (HT2 Brad DeLong) couldn’t take it anymore when the Cato Institute’s David Boaz referred to this year’s “Tea Parties” as the “revival of a freedom movement.” […]

Oil Prices Are Rigged? It Just Ain’t So!

I explain in the latest Freeman. Excerpt: Even though oil prices have fallen and quieted the price-conspiracy mongers, you can bet that when prices go up again, they will be back in force. It happened last time. For example, in an article for Time last August, Ari Officer and Garrett Hayes ask, “Are Oil Prices […]