Bob Murphy

Author Archive

CNBC’s Description of John D. Rockefeller

OK so I was taking a break in between tasks and flipped through CNBC’s Best American CEOs of All Time slideshow. #6 was Rockefeller, and here’s what they had to say: It’s hard to top Rockefeller as a monopolist or philanthropist. While doling out dimes and nickels to the poor, John D. built a sprawling […]

Taking the Good with the Bad: N. Gregory Mankiw

I have two negative things to say about the analysis of Greg Mankiw, so let me start off with two positive things. First, check out this hilarious post where he busts the hypocrisy of Ben Bernanke. Second, reader Stan Kwiatkowski sends me this blast from the past where Mankiw praises Barney Frank for citing Mises […]

How Tyler Cowen and David Friedman Can Get Rich(er)

One of the things that contributes most to my feelings of guilt is that I have to blow off so many people who email with possibly fantastic new ideas that would revolutionize a particular academic field or even the “real world.” More and more, I’ve had to say, “You may very well be right, but […]

Do Parents Matter?

Bryan Caplan has been pounding on his theme over at EconLog that “parents don’t matter.” (See here and here.) I must confess that I am incredibly biased because one of my core beliefs is that parents have an incredibly profound influence on their kids. But having confessed my bias, I must report that I find […]

Robert Wenzel: I Love the Way This Guy Thinks

Check out his post speculating that the mysterious flu outbreak was a botched effort to force the commander in chief to assume room temperature. (Note that I am trying to avoid being flagged by the government computers that undoubtedly scour the internet looking for key phrases. Because of the post I’ve linked to above, I’m […]

Which One Doesn’t Belong?

At least one legal scholar in the photo below is not enthusiastic about Rothbardian private legal systems. Can you guess who? (HT2 Dick Clark for the photo.)

Ben Stein’s Expelled

A few years ago, when I was a college professor at Hillsdale (where a large fraction of the student body was very interested in Intelligent Design), I spent a lot of time reading in this area. My conclusion was that (a) the vast vast majority of people who subscribed to ID were Christians who had […]

God and Government

A colleague in Nashville (who is also an Austrian and a Christian) and I have been discussing the well-known passage in Judges (17:6) that says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” I think most American Christians believe that this passage condemns anarchy, i.e. […]