Shameless Self-Promotion

Archive for Shameless Self-Promotion

Potpourri

* Citigroup comes up with a new catchphrase to justify its continuing reliance on bailouts. * Gerald O’Driscoll gets pretty feisty, for the Wall Street Journal. (HT2 the photosynthetic von Pepe.) * Check out Andrew Jackson’s explanation for why he killed the 2nd Bank of the United States. BTW mark your calendars, the Night of […]

Murphy TSA Twin Spin

Here’s the full version of privatizing airline security, complete with a numerical example: [An] actuary could tell the airline, “Using only conventional metal detectors and X-ray machines on luggage, you should expect 10 terrorist incidents, each costing on average $300 million in legal damages, for every 100 million passengers who fly on your airline.” The […]

Murphy on “Freedom Watch” Tonight…

I am going to be talking about deflation, Bernanke, etc.

Some Concerns With the Amazon Boycott

Woo hoo, I already got 1 hate mail on this one. An excerpt (from the article, not the hate mail): It’s ironic to think through exactly why Amazon ended up being the target of the boycott, when even the boycotters would all quickly admit that it was Lieberman who was more culpable than the Amazon […]

Save the Bluefin Tuna With Property Rights

My article yesterday at Mises.org. BTW lately my articles have benefited from the customized artwork of Evan Wondolowski. An excerpt: Over the past two weeks, National Public Radio (NPR) has carried stories on the plight of the bluefin tuna and on the conservation campaign designed to save the endangered fish. Restaurants and supermarket chains have […]

Potpourri

Once again the browser becomes turgid with tabs: * Jim Manzi has been having a good discussion/argument with Karl Smith, on the confidence economists should have in their models. If you go to this post, you can get up to speed. It’s an interesting discussion because if you read either of them, you totally “get” […]

Could the Fed Become Insolvent?

I discuss this possibility today at Mises.org. I walk through three separate (hypothetical) Fed balance sheets to show how it could occur. An excerpt: Although our central bank appears to be insolvent, in practice what would hinder its continued operation? Its liabilities consist in the legal-tender fiat money of the land. If someone walks into […]

Division of Labor, for High Schoolers

OK here is the video of the talk I gave last week on the division of labor at the Mises Institute high school seminar. (Note: The opening jokes are referring to something Mark Thornton did in the prior talk. BTW if someone watches his talk, can you give me the exact time he sets up […]