Ep. 245 Cutting Larry Summers Some Slack on His Labor Market Remarks
Bob provides a qualified defense of Larry Summers’ recent claim that high unemployment will be necessary to contain price inflation. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The Summers interview featured in the audio clip. The Bloomberg article quoting Summers on how unemployment is necessary to fight inflation. Robert Lucas’ Nobel Prize lecture…
Ep. 243 To Understand (Price) Inflation Then and Now, Follow the Money
Bob seeks to explain why the Fed’s extraordinary monetary inflation following the 2008 financial crisis didn’t result in $5/gallon gasoline, while the Fed’s extraordinary monetary inflation following the 2020 coronavirus panic did. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Bob’s newspaper op ed laying out his explanation. Bob’s blog post summarizing what happened…
Ep. 217 Murphy Critiques MMT TED Talk
Bob provides a running refutation of Stephanie Kelton’s recent TED talk on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Stephanie Kelton’s TED Talk. Bob’s review of Kelton’s book explaining MMT. Kelton’s intro to MMT, The Deficit Myth. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) Bob’s…
Ep. 209 Bob Murphy Critiques Curtis Yarvin’s Explanation of Inflation
In a May 2021 essay, Curtis Yarvin (aka Mencius Moldbug) argues that the American economy runs on an inflation machine. Yarvin claims that the best way to measure the amount of inflation is to look at the change in aggregate personal net worth over a given period. Murphy explains why this is wrongheaded. Mentioned in…
Ep. 175 David Andolfatto Defends the Fed
Ron Paul used the fall in purchasing power since the founding of the Fed to argue that the central bank had hurt regular Americans. Fed economist David Andolfatto disagrees, but Bob pushes back. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interview. David Andolfatto critiques Ron Paul’s argument against the…