Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Fake News: How I Became Part of the Problem

When I was doing research for an op ed on Venezuela, I came across a hilarious find and asked Natalie Danelishen to whip up a meme. Isn’t it perfect? I posted this beautiful meme on Facebook and Twitter. People loved it. It was shared hundreds of times, the last I checked. There’s just one problem. […]

Heaven on Earth

I was going over the “Our Father” very slowly with my son, since there is often a tendency for Christians to rush through it without really contemplating the words. When we got to “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” I stopped to dwell on just how amazing […]

An Interesting Development in the Banking System

For a while I have been meaning to investigate the drop in reserve balances maintained with Federal Reserve banks, but I’ve been swamped with projects and traveling. But at least let me document it for you. Any ideas? (Click on image for full size.)

Potpourri

==> “Dadbucks”: an experiment in central banking. ==> This NYT headline says a guy was fined for “doing math without a license.” I assumed it was hyperbole, but it’s pretty close to what happened. (He was protesting the length of yellow lights to a city council.) ==> In honor of the March for Science I […]

How Does Lucas Differ From Traditional Keynesian Stories on “Money Illusion”?

I sent an email to an expert but thought I’d also post my issue here: For a paper I’m doing, I had to go back and re-read Lucas’ 1972 JET paper on the neutrality of money. In it, he stresses that the agents in his model do not suffer from money illusion. He clarifies what […]

“Slavery: A Global Investigation”

I have been informed by some activists that many libertarians are either indifferent to, or are actively supporting, worldwide slavery. I have repeatedly asked them to write a guest blog post which I will host here, in which they point out specifically how libertarian attitudes and/or policy prescriptions are hurting the plight of those held […]

Why Does Freedom Work?

This was my talk at the Independent Institute event in San Fransisco in April. What’s new here is my opening discussion of Carlos Lara.

Catching Up on Contra Krugman

I think I’m way behind. (I went to Europe for a week.) Here you go: ==> In Episode 82 we talk about the cruise missile attacks on Syria. We have Dan McAdams from the Ron Paul Institute as a guest. ==> In Episode 83 we talk about Trump’s focus on bringing back manufacturing jobs. We […]