Bob Murphy

Author Archive

IER’s Green Jobs Critique Now Available

The suspense is over! IER’s new study (by Robert Michaels and me) looks at four of the leading “green jobs” studies and finds serious flaws. We are not delving into the climate issues on this one, and so our critique alone doesn’t prove that a cap & trade etc. are bad ideas. However, just glance […]

Potpourri: 1/3 Information, 2/3 Narcissism

* Blackadder recommended this Russ Roberts podcast with card-carrying Keynesian Steve Fazzari. I highly recommend it as well. Fazzari is so confident that he tripped up Roberts at one point (and I confess, I was momentarily befuddled as well). Roberts didn’t go in for the kill, either because he didn’t want to make the guy […]

Praise for My Piece on "Depression Economics"

My recent Mises.org piece on Krugman/Thoma’s “the normal rules don’t apply in a depression”-argument is getting a lot of commentary, as these things go. Mario Rizzo gives it a plug, and David Henderson wrote a very nice post today over at EconLog. My favorite line: “But you can unbundle Murphy’s package.” To learn the context […]

Bloomberg Story on IER "Green Jobs" Critique

Here is a Bloomberg story about our forthcoming report on Green Jobs. (I will post the link tomorrow when it’s available.) If you want to learn who funds the Center for American Progress, you will need to do your own research.

Bernanke Gets a C- For His Answer on the Austrian School

This is pretty funny. Reader Zach Kurtz alerted me to this Q&A where a Human Events guy (at around 2:05) asks Bernanke why they are pursuing Keynesian remedies, rather than Austrian ones. And like an undergrad who didn’t study for the test, Bernanke just mentions that the Austrians believed in the aggregation of information (he […]

Skirting Regulations in Nigeria

Here is an interesting story: Police in Nigeria have arrested scores of motorcycle taxi riders with dried fruit shells, paint pots or pieces of rubber tire tied to their heads with string to avoid a new law requiring them to wear helmets. The regulations have caused chaos around Africa’s most populous nation, with motorcyclists complaining […]

Idle Resources: Does "Depression Economics" Change the Rules?

I argue “no” at mises.org. This article is on the long side, but I really thought it important to carefully pick apart the claim that tradeoffs disappear when there are unemployed workers and other resources lying around. An excerpt: Although Krugman and Thoma have made the only rhetorical move left to salvage their disastrous recommendations, […]

Of Flat Taxes and Idols

(As happened last week, this week my Sunday “religious” post is spilling over into Monday morning.) I have nothing too profound to report today. In my reading of Exodus I came across three items that I hadn’t noticed before: (1) In Exodus 30:11-16, God shows that He is no proponent of progressive taxation: 11 Then […]