Economics

Archive for Economics

Contrasting Views of the Great Depression

This was another talk I gave at Mises U this year. (The opening joke is a reference to an argument between Walter Block and Gary North.)

Greenspan Might Be a Little Too Frank

As longtime readers know, I am fascinated by “conspiracy theories” and cannot rule out the possibility that there is a cabal of lizard people running the world. Anyway, if the cabal exists, I have to think they are upset at Alan Greenspan’s glibness in this interview. (HT2 EPJ) That’s always gotta be tough, when somebody […]

Stephan Kinsella on Intellectual Property

This was his talk at Mises U this year. I didn’t watch it live, but just caught it while balancing my checkbook. (Feel free to steal my idea; I won’t sue.) The Q&A is really good.

More Evidence That Scott Sumner Is Insane

For a while I have confidently asserted that economist Scott Sumner is insane. (Believe it or not, Scott himself understands why I say this as a compliment. I’m not saying he’s flattered, mind you, just that he gets my weird sense of humor.) Today I will not talk about his views that our current recession […]

An Open Letter to Mayor Bloomberg

He’s put up $30 million of his own money to supplement a NYC program to help blacks and Latinos enjoy American prosperity. I gave him some suggestions on things that would work better.

Extended Arthur Laffer Appearance on CNBC

My former boss gets the chance to spell out his worldview here: Incidentally, I had someone ask me (because of the above interview) whether Laffer had always been so nuanced on whether tax rate reductions would lead to tax revenue increases. And the answer is, “Yes, that has always been his position.” In other words, […]

I’m Still Not Seeing the Deflationary Threat

Today the BLS put out its official Consumer Price Index numbers. From July 2010 to July 2011, unadjusted CPI rose 3.6%. Yesterday the Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers came out. Here is the breakdown of 12-month changes by category: Finished goods +7.2% Intermediate goods +11.6% Crude goods +22.6% If I didn’t know any better, I’d […]

Murphy Twin Spin

On Monday I talked about deleveraging and not fearing the reaper. Today I have an infomercial for the 4-week Mises Academy class starting next week on the sovereign debt crisis. (I’m still taking suggestions for the syllabus, if anyone has ideas.)