Potpourri
==> When I interviewed Karl Smith for my podcast, I looked at his stuff and was pleasantly surprised to see Karl praising Art Laffer. I obviously don’t agree with him on everything, but I like Karl for his willingness to take unpopular opinions.
==> I thought this was an interesting take on the trans-bikini-wax controversy.
==> An interview with Campbell Harvey, the academic whose 1980s dissertation established the inverted yield curve’s apparent ability to “predict” a recession.
Murphy Lectures on Private Military Defense
This has a lot of new material that I’ve never covered in a lecture before.
Michel Accad and I Discuss Kenneth Arrow on Health Care
In episode 45 of the Bob Murphy Show…
Murphy Twin Spin
We’re back from the Contra Cruise, but now I’m headed to Mises U! Here’s some stuff to tide you over:
==> The Contra Krugman episode live from the Cruise.
==> My IER piece summarizing Oren Cass’s recent House testimony on the costs of climate change.
Bob Murphy Show Twin Spin
In episode 43 I talk to medical doctor Michel Accad on the development of neoclassical welfare and market failure theory.
In episode 44 I talk to Steve Patterson, who challenges Rothbardians on a priori theorizing.
Is Tyler Right About Defending Against an Inflation Tax?
In a post talking about Libra, Tyler Cowen makes this argument:
Let’s say the core rate of inflation in a country is eight percent, which is about the current rate of price inflation in Myanmar. It is still not the case that an unbanked farmer holds currency for the entire year (he is more likely to buy land or animals as a means of large-scale saving). I am not sure what monetary velocity is for this group of people (readers?), but say currency turns over four times a year on average. That is in essence a two percent tax on currency holdings, not an eight percent tax. I don’t think that individuals will switch monies for such a small gain, noting that decreasing their demand for money (i.e., increasing currency velocity) is another possible response.
I’m pretty sure the part I put in bold is wrong, do you folks agree?
For example, suppose every 6 months my number and I swap houses. We didn’t just cut the property tax rate in half.
I think what Tyler is trying to say, is something like, “The fraction of your wealth that you lose to currency debasement, can be reduced by reducing the fraction of your portfolio consisting of currency.”
But even so, I think it’s really misleading to write the statement that Tyler wrote. I mean, you could say the federal gas tax right now is “in essence” much lower than the official value, because people drive less when gas is taxed. We don’t normally talk like that.
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