NPR (SF) Debate: Murphy vs. Dean Baker
On Sunday I debated Dean Baker on the San Fran NPR show hosted by Marty Nemko. Here is the archive (mp3).
This was a pretty neat debate I think. I didn’t “crush” Baker and (I hope) he didn’t beat me. We were both polite and often agreed with each other.
Happy Easter!
When I was younger I didn’t understand why Easter was considered a more important holiday (to Christians) than Christmas. It’s funny but I can’t even remember now what my confusion was; it certainly seems a much bigger deal for someone to come back from the dead than to be born.
I have wrestled with one of Jesus’ commands. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus famously said, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.“
This passage really caused me angst, because as a young libertarian I actually wrote LRC articles about “the Resistance.” In other words I tried to get modern freedom writers to picture themselves as comparable to the French Resistance when their country was occupied by the Germans. Play it!
In fact, I used to autograph my books by writing, “Keep resisting! –Robert P. Murphy”
But I don’t do that anymore. Now I write, “Keep learning!” and since that sounds so cheesy I am thinking of switching to, “The truth shall set you free.”
The reason for the switch? Look at what Jesus did. He didn’t resist evil, even though He could have called legions of angels down to ward off his kidnappers. He showed that you cannot thwart God’s will. “Oh, but if we don’t fight back, they will torture and kill us!!!”
And Jesus can say, “So what?”
What should have been the Devil’s ultimate victory–he tricked us into murdering a guy who was literally spending His days healing the sick and bestowing words of wisdom–was transformed into the Devil’s ultimate defeat.
Why does God allow bad things to happen? Because He is so ingenious that He can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He has managed to turn humanity’s moment of greatest shame into our salvation.
Jesus is risen!
Tom Woods, the Only Threat to My Professional Success
If it weren’t for Tom Woods, I would have a wide open field. But dangit, his affiliation with the Mises Institute has taught him sound economics, and on top of that he is a geek who reads a bunch of history. Fortunately, he has a terrible sense of humor.
In any event, check out this speech on the depression of 1920-1921. He’s got some amazing stats and quotes.
Koppl-Murphy Throwdown
In light of the recent WSJ symposium in which the Austrian theory was vindicated (though not by name), we Austrians have decided that we are gaining too much ground and it’s thus time to start another internal war. To that end, I offer this thread over at The Austrian Economists.
Those Who Are Ignorant of Cartoons…
Jim Myers passes along the following which is apparently an actual 1934 political cartoon:
Why Don’t Cargo Ships Arm Themselves Against Pirates?
Ed Stringham sends me this AP article discussing the downside to arming against pirates. Although I was rooting for the American crew–especially when I learned the chief security guy was named Murphy–I think it’s probably wisest to not escalate. E.g. even if he ends up OK, the captain was obviously in danger because of the American resistance, and a shipload of cargo is not worth a human life.
The pacifist in me says that even though it is fun and gets the blood pumping to say, “Let’s show those pirates who’s boss!!”, in reality this will only make future pirates more violent. You are not going to “win the war on piracy” by outgunning them.
I’m not saying ships should welcome them with open arms, just that I don’t think the solution to this is to arm the crews. And even though there are government regulations contributing to this outcome, note that it is the insurers too who are skeptical.
When I worked at a grocery store they told us not to be a hero if someone tried to steal food or hold up the cashiers. (Late night guys would load up on steaks and book out of the store. We were told not to tackle them or anything.)
Henderson Yes, Caplan No
EconLog is really a great blog. The three of those guys together have as much output as one Tyler Cowen (and that’s a compliment to the three). In this post I’ll praise David Henderson for this great point about anarchy and foreign affairs, and then I’ll proceed to criticize Bryan Caplan.
Caplan is getting ready to hawk his new book (as we all must do) and so gives us his preface, which starts like this:
When I tell people that I’m writing a book called Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, the most common response is, “Because they’ll take care of you in your old age?” Now’s a good time to issue a disclaimer: That is not what I’m saying. Indeed, I doubt that “They’ll help me out when I’m old,” has ever been a good reason to have kids. Love tends to run downhill; as an old saying ruefully observes, “One parent can care for five children, but five children cannot care for one parent.” In any case, there are more cost-effective ways to provide for your old age than starting a family. In a backward farming community, you can take the money you were going to spend on children, use it to buy land, then rent it out when you’re ready to retire. In the modern world, self-help is easier still. Invest in a retirement fund, or buy an annuity. No muss, no fuss.
(1) I am suspicious whenever an economist “blows up” centuries of wisdom in two sentences. Is it really true that Bryan Caplan knows better than billions of people all over the world who (I assume) would claim that they have large families as an insurance policy?
(2) Does anyone else find it odd that Caplan is saying “no muss no fuss” in reference to retirement funds and annuities? I literally wrote in a recent email to my parents that it’s good they (will soon) have two young sons with PhDs, since their retirement just got halved.
(3) Does Bryan know that population grows exponentially while land has historically been fairly fixed? (I believe that was one of the reasons for primogeniture.) If people take Caplan’s advice and have a bunch of kids, with each generation there is less land for each couple to buy as a retirement option. Human beings are incredibly versatile. I think it is one of the wisest investments you can make to raise children, especially if you can pull it off so they don’t hate your guts by the time they’re in their 30s.
A Moment’s Reflection
I give a halftime talk to the legions of liberty fighters. (And that means they are fighting for liberty, notwithstanding Carlin’s take* on this.) The intro:
For those of us who consider it our duty or even our career to defend traditional liberties from ever-growing government, I would like us to reflect a moment on what just happened in the last 8 months. In the global battle of ideas over the proper size of the State, the American libertarians just lost the capital city.
* Something like: “What do firefighters do? They fight fires…So what do freedom fighters do?” He was ripping Oliver North et al. in this bit.
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