Archive for Robert P. Murphy
Robert Murphy is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, runs the blog Free Advice, and is the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression.
Hypnotized by Models
We live in an age where abstract models of the real world are held in high regard. Wall Street firms hire mathematicians and physicists to create sophisticated mathematical representations of various assets and markets. Meteorologists employ computer simulations in an attempt to anticipate the path of storms and predict next week’s weather. Marketing firms try [...]
1Mar2005 | Gene Callahan | 1 comment | ContinuedWhat’s Wrong with the Poverty Numbers
Last fall the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States. The report indicated that the number of people below the official poverty line had risen from 32.9 million in 2001 to 34.6 million in 2002. Worse, the official poverty rate had risen from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.1 [...]
1Apr2004 | Robert P. Murphy | 1 comment | ContinuedLet Us Not Speak Falsely Now
One of the most difficult issues facing those arguing for a free society is the bias built into the way we speak. When the very words people use create a prejudice in favor of government intervention, supporters of freedom must first alert their audience to this pernicious influence, and only then can the argument about [...]
1Mar2004 | Gene Callahan | 1 comment | ContinuedNationalized Health Care Will Cut Costs?
A group called Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is promoting a government insurance plan to cover all Americans. In an August 13, 2003, Los Angeles Times report, the group claimed that their “single payer” plan would eliminate $200 billion a year in “administrative, marketing and other private-industry expenses.” This would save enough “to [...]
1Jan2004 | Gene Callahan | 17 comments | ContinuedMarkets Aren’t Efficient?
In his August 22 Washington Post piece, “What’s New About This Economy?” Michael Kinsley summarizes the prevailing orthodoxy among economists: In the church of economic theory, as in that other church, the central symbol of the faith is a cross. Only this one is tilted and looks like an “x” not a “t.” As any [...]
1Dec2000 | Robert P. Murphy | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Origins of the Public School
Hardly anyone disputes the contention that the modem public school is seriously flawed. Test scores continue to be poor while metal detectors are found in the more violent schools. Welfare-state liberals argue that schools in poor areas need more money to place them on an equal footing with their richer counterparts. Conservatives usually reply that [...]
1Jul1998 | Robert P. Murphy | 10 comments | Continued-
The Latest
JPMorgan Chase and Casino Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the nation’s leading banks, revealed in May that a London trader racked... Read More
Individualism, Trade-Unions, and “Self-Governing Combinations”
Who do you imagine said this? “[Trade-unions] seem natural to the passing phase of social evolution,... Read More
Bubbles, Malinvestment, and Higher Education
Many commentators are asking whether the next big bubble to burst will be the debt associated with the... Read More
JPMorgan’s Blunder Is No Market Failure
I am not going to try to defend JPMorgan Chase for its recent, widely reported financial blunders. ... Read More
For Equality; Against Privilege
This TGIF originally ran July 7, 2006. The freedom philosophy can be boiled down to two phrases: for... Read More
