Bob Murphy

Author Archive

The Importance of Capital Theory: A Reply to Krugman (and Cowen)

OK folks, I know I borrow the Rush Limbaugh cocky narcissism angle a lot in my posts (though he has parlayed it into more $$ than I have, thus far). But honestly, I think today’s article over at Mises.org on “The Importance of Capital Theory” really spells out the nuts and bolts of a boom-bust […]

Anthony Gregory Puts the Smack-Down on Weisberg’s "The End of Libertarianism"

In libertarian circles, Jacob Weisberg’s recent Slate column, which blames the financial mess on free markets, has been ruffling feathers. Really, you need to read it if you haven’t already. (And even if you have read it, it might wake you up this Monday morning to read it again.) I had toyed with writing a […]

Robert Wenzel: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Free Advice readers may wonder who the heck this Robert Wenzel guy is, perhaps the only person mentioned more than 5 times on this blog whom I am not mocking. Well, over at the second best blog in the world, RW and I went head-to-head over some trivial issue. (In retrospect, I think we both […]

The Recession Hits the NY Fed

I’m glad to see our quasi-governmental agencies lead the way in belt-tightening. Matt Machaj alerts us to this press release from the NY Fed: October 16, 2008 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will cease publication of its weekly Statement of Condition with the October 30, 2008 release. The information will continue to be […]

Should the Fed Burst Bubbles?

The prevailing wisdom among Fed academics used to be “no,” but now that is changing. (If we’re throwing out private property, we might as well look at some other principles to jettison too.) I summarized my views on the issue in response to Tyler Cowen’s remarks on the WSJ article linked: Cowen: Should the Fed […]

An Atheist With No Sense of Irony

While googling to find a Bible verse for this post,* I came across an About.com article concerning a portion of Scripture that modern Christians allegedly ignore because it is too uncomfortable. First, the gospel passages in question: 17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, […]

Pete Boettke Gets Saucy on the Financial Crisis

Although he doesn’t name names, Pete Boettke–head of the GMU Austrian syndicate–laments that many free market economists have endorsed the recent shenanigans as regrettable necessities. Go Pete! Below is the first portion of his lecture at FFF; go to this link to see the rest of his talk. (Note that “Bumper” = Jacob Hornberger.)

A Hedge Fund Manager Takes His Marbles and Goes Home

Andrew Lahde ran a small hedge fund and made 866 percent either in its first or second year (the article is ambiguous), by anticipating the subprime collapse. Then he decided he had reached his magic number and walked away. This article lists his goodbye letter, full of thoughts on idiotic MBAs, a corrupt Congress, and […]