Robert Murphy Archives
Short-Sale Restrictions Are an Exercise in Naked Power
Short selling is a beneficial process that allows anyone to participate in the market's evaluation of share prices. So long as contracts are enforced, even naked short selling can be a beneficial process that allows the quickest possible adjustment in mispriced stocks. The government's recent efforts to "protect" nineteen favored firms from naked shorting will do nothing but raise transaction costs. Beyond that, it provides a sobering hint of future, more significant innovations in federal government support for particular financial giants. FULL ARTICLE
ANWR Drilling Would Provide Quick Relief
There are many strong arguments for opening up ANWR but here is the strongest: because of its impact on oil prices in the future, relaxing federal prohibitions would cause current oil producers to change their pumping decisions right now. Even though the additional barrels from ANWR wouldn't physically hit the market for years, current knowledge of this fact will alter current behavior, leading to rapid relief at the pump. FULL ARTICLE
In Restraint of Trade
I'm delighted that Butler Shaffer's In Restraint of Trade can now reach the widest possible audience. I reviewed the book here.
Some selections:
Early on, Shaffer details the rise of trade associations and codes of ethics, which allows for some downright entertaining quotations, a welcome delight for a book concerned with inter-war trade practices. The American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages, for example, solemnly pledged, "My desire shall not be to undersell my fellow bottlers, but to contend with them for first place in the quality of my products and service I render my patrons" (p. 65). A prominent textile trade association offered a similar exhortation: "Legitimate competition is the life of the industry, but unscrupulous competition is injurious to yourself, to your competitor, and to your industry" (p. 65). However, the doubletalk of these codes pales in comparison to the rhetorical excellence of the American Warehousemen's Association, which framed its proscriptions of price-cutting not as an attempt to strengthen the industry, but to rescue the beleaguered consumer: "Nothing so shakes the confidence of the Public as the knowledge that only through haggling and bargaining can it be sure of obtaining the lowest and presumably fairest rates; nothing is so unfair to the unsuspicious and trusting customer; nothing is so damning to the effort to establish confidence and good-will and to carry on our business legitimately and honestly on a plane of fair dealing with equal advantage to all."
Shaffer explains that these initially voluntary codes and associations failed in their announced purpose to eliminate "unhealthy" pricecutting, and soon turned to government to enforce such "voluntarism." He then offers the single most powerful critique of the predatory pricing bogey that this reviewer has ever seen (pp. 67-68), though it does not quite satisfy the reader acquainted with Game Theory (e.g., even if a big firm is reaping inordinate profits, why would it be strategically wise for any individual upstart to challenge it, if the big firm has the resources to ruin at least the first few such challengers?). Such theoretical concerns aside, Shaffer decisively demonstrates that predatory pricing is not a realistic danger, and that ostensible historical examples of the strategy are dubious.
Austrian Realists
July 17, 2008 8:46 AM
| Comments (21)
The Market Works Just in Time
July 7, 2008 8:37 AM
| Comments (37)
Fox Interviews a Rothbardian
June 27, 2008 5:17 PM
| Comments (17)
Speculators Fixing Oil Prices? Don't Bet On It!
June 23, 2008 4:39 PM
| Comments (6)
Tom Woods Interviews Bob Murphy
June 10, 2008 11:21 PM
| Comments (6)
Article Under Peer Review Tackles Economic Case for Pricing Carbon
June 5, 2008 1:18 PM
| Comments (22)
Cap and Trade Is Not a "Market Solution"
June 4, 2008 10:00 AM
| Comments (52)
The Government's Statistical Whopper of the Year
May 27, 2008 7:54 AM
| Comments (17)
Maxine Waters can't say the word socialize
May 23, 2008 10:55 AM
| Comments (20)
PRI Flat Tax Study Released
May 13, 2008 9:30 PM
| Comments (9)
Economists and Their Frameworks
May 5, 2008 7:45 AM
| Comments (16)
Are Recessions Deflationary?
April 28, 2008 8:00 AM
| Comments (53)
Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble?
April 14, 2008 8:15 AM
| Comments (9)
The Problems of Central Bank Planning
April 4, 2008 7:45 AM
| Comments (75)
Kudlow Gets It Half Right
March 19, 2008 1:26 PM
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Murphy and Hoskins on the Fed
March 17, 2008 1:27 PM
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Michael Kinsley Loves Libertarians
February 3, 2008 6:14 PM
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Correcting Kinsley on Libertarianism
February 1, 2008 7:18 AM
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Painted Into a Keynesian Corner
January 26, 2008 9:12 PM
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The Writers Strike and Jay Leno's Monologue
January 11, 2008 4:01 PM
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Can Unions Cause Price Inflation?
January 10, 2008 7:49 AM
| Comments (12)
Stockpiles and Speculators
January 7, 2008 7:57 AM
| Comments (7)
Rejoinder to David Frum on the Gold Standard
January 3, 2008 10:12 AM
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David Frum on the Gold Standard
December 31, 2007 8:32 AM
| Comments (44)
The Fed's Role in the Housing Bubble
December 28, 2007 11:25 AM
| Comments (10)
Study Guide to Human Action, Chapter XVII
December 18, 2007 1:52 PM
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Privatize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve!
December 14, 2007 11:42 AM
| Comments (5)
Mechanism Design and the Free Market
December 10, 2007 8:19 AM
| Comments (16)
Peter Schiff on Mortgage Bailout
December 9, 2007 7:57 PM
| Comments (9)
The Mortgage Mess
December 8, 2007 6:56 PM
| Comments (11)
Arbitraging Ron Paul's Online Odds
October 10, 2007 6:48 PM
| Comments (8)
The Worst Recession in 25 years?
October 1, 2007 8:21 AM
| Comments (27)
Perpetual Trade Deficits Can Be Good
September 11, 2007 7:52 AM
| Comments (58)
A Falling Dollar, After All
August 13, 2007 9:09 AM
| Comments (31)
New Study Guides to Human Action
July 24, 2007 8:50 AM
| Comments (0)
How the Free Market Would Handle Quarantines
July 16, 2007 7:20 AM
| Comments (14)
Murphy Interviewed on The Political Cesspool
July 9, 2007 11:37 PM
| Comments (11)
The Student Loan Fiasco: Made in D.C.
June 27, 2007 7:35 AM
| Comments (4)
Weekend Study Guide
June 1, 2007 3:01 PM
| Comments (0)
New Chapters to Human Action Study Guide
May 28, 2007 3:59 PM
| Comments (1)
The Giant Gas-Gouging Gaffe
May 25, 2007 8:05 AM
| Comments (27)
More on Human Action
April 26, 2007 3:34 PM
| Comments (0)
Private Defense Is No Laughing Matter
April 9, 2007 7:43 AM
| Comments (79)
Blogger Covering Anarchist Rally Goes Free
April 4, 2007 8:13 AM
| Comments (7)
Trade Deficits and Collectivism
March 26, 2007 7:45 AM
| Comments (159)
Wal-Mart, Like Drug Dealers, Supports Terrorism
March 22, 2007 10:58 AM
| Comments (9)
New Podcast Series: Easy Pieces in Austro-Libertarianism
March 8, 2007 6:44 PM
| Comments (6)
More of the Study Guide to Human Action
March 6, 2007 11:43 AM
| Comments (0)
Chaos Theory now online
February 27, 2007 4:59 PM
| Comments (11)
The Greens Reduce Alcohol Consumption, Too?
February 26, 2007 8:33 AM
| Comments (4)
Trade Deficits and Fiat Currencies
February 15, 2007 8:31 AM
| Comments (113)
Young Criminals Don't Respond to Incentives?
February 7, 2007 3:56 PM
| Comments (27)
Isn't the Capital Surplus a Good Thing?
January 22, 2007 8:09 AM
| Comments (157)
Does Business Need Washington To Manage Wages?
January 15, 2007 8:03 AM
| Comments (26)
Yellow Journalism at the Weekly Standard
January 3, 2007 7:49 AM
| Comments (12)
Putting the Economics Back in Christmas
December 25, 2006 11:40 AM
| Comments (2)
The Social Function of Call and Put Options
December 13, 2006 8:09 AM
| Comments (17)
The Social Function of Futures Markets
November 29, 2006 7:48 AM
| Comments (9)
Julian Simon's Wager With Paul Ehrlich
November 27, 2006 2:06 PM
| Comments (20)
The Social Function of Stock Speculators
November 22, 2006 7:30 AM
| Comments (29)
Anarchy (well, almost) in the Roads
November 12, 2006 2:17 PM
| Comments (5)
Upsidedown Luddism: The Case of Immigration
October 3, 2006 8:10 AM
| Comments (31)
Hey honey, I went to school with this guy!
September 14, 2006 10:53 PM
| Comments (4)
Should An Economist Analyze Housing?
September 13, 2006 8:47 AM
| Comments (23)
Slate Article: Sanctions Never Work!!
August 4, 2006 1:38 PM
| Comments (6)
The Worst Article Ever?
August 2, 2006 8:27 AM
| Comments (49)
At Least They're Not Being Gouged
July 24, 2006 8:27 AM
| Comments (9)
Government Forces Teenager to Get Chemotherapy
July 21, 2006 9:52 PM
| Comments (34)
Al Franken on Lying Liars
July 18, 2006 7:42 AM
| Comments (5)
Paying People to Vote in Arizona
July 18, 2006 7:38 AM
| Comments (9)
Taleb on Mainstream Economics
July 12, 2006 11:09 AM
| Comments (2)
Superman Needs an Agent
July 11, 2006 7:29 AM
| Comments (17)
So Economics Isn't Enough, Huh?
June 6, 2006 7:37 AM
| Comments (30)
Hot News Item: Votes of 86 people mattered!
May 4, 2006 7:27 PM
| Comments (1)
Columbia Business School Rips Bernanke
April 26, 2006 10:29 AM
| Comments (2)
Bush to Iran: Don't You Wish We Had Been Disarmed?
April 16, 2006 12:58 PM
| Comments (41)
Soda and the Sin Tax
March 29, 2006 7:30 AM
| Comments (21)
Is There a Libertarian Case Against Free Trade?
March 13, 2006 7:06 AM
| Comments (75)
Clever, Cooperating Undergrads
March 12, 2006 7:10 PM
| Comments (7)
Private Law and Pizza?
March 3, 2006 3:46 PM
| Comments (58)
What Money is Not
February 28, 2006 7:48 AM
| Comments (56)
More from PCR on outsourcing
February 16, 2006 1:13 PM
| Comments (26)
Free Market = Mass Society = Bad?
February 15, 2006 7:02 PM
| Comments (68)
Is Free Trade Really Wrecking the Union?
February 15, 2006 8:07 AM
| Comments (18)
Why Rothbard Makes Sense
February 10, 2006 7:27 AM
| Comments (5)
The Gas-Line Quagmire in Iraq
February 6, 2006 9:05 AM
| Comments (27)
Aren't Deficits Another Name for Saving? Nope.
January 27, 2006 8:16 AM
| Comments (13)
Government Debt Has No Upside
January 16, 2006 7:22 AM
| Comments (104)
Role Playing Games and Money
January 7, 2006 8:50 AM
| Comments (18)
Can Free Trade Ever Harm a Country?
January 5, 2006 5:06 AM
| Comments (19)
The Alleged China Threat
December 15, 2005 7:43 AM
| Comments (24)
How a Market Might Have Handled Katrina
November 17, 2005 4:07 AM
| Comments (26)
Study Guide for Rothbard Finished!
November 4, 2005 8:43 AM
| Comments (3)
My Bizarro Twin
October 13, 2005 3:29 PM
| Comments (3)
Spontaneous Order in Kenya
September 11, 2005 1:47 PM
| Comments (2)
Why Home Study?
September 1, 2005 7:30 AM
| Comments (5)
Canadian Court for Private Health Care?
August 28, 2005 8:06 PM
| Comments (4)
Education Investment (not Loans)
August 20, 2005 8:45 PM
| Comments (6)
Should We Love or Loathe the Mafia?
August 12, 2005 4:23 AM
| Comments (46)
The Possibility of Private Law
August 3, 2005 7:16 AM
| Comments (66)
Austrian Economists in Mass Media
July 21, 2005 3:34 PM
| Comments (6)
Hayek's Plan for Private Money
July 18, 2005 8:02 AM
| Comments (66)
Wouldn't the Warlords Take Over?
July 7, 2005 5:07 AM
| Comments (115)
Ridiculous Scenarios
June 21, 2005 7:43 PM
| Comments (42)
Scott Horton's Weekend Interview
June 19, 2005 5:18 PM
| Comments (1)
Bush-Style Privatization: More and More Problems
June 12, 2005 3:23 PM
| Comments (22)
Austrian-friendly JEP article
June 10, 2005 1:17 PM
| Comments (1)
A Recommendation for the Dehomogenization Debate
June 10, 2005 8:22 AM
| Comments (3)
Private Schools a Failure?
June 2, 2005 10:23 AM
| Comments (7)
Austrian Economist defends Bush SS plan
June 1, 2005 9:06 AM
| Comments (5)
More Fun Than Truth
May 25, 2005 7:21 AM
| Comments (10)
Great Slate Piece on Insurance
May 24, 2005 9:24 AM
| Comments (4)
Bush's Impossible Social Security Plan
May 12, 2005 8:55 AM
| Comments (26)
George Bernard Shaw on Calculation
May 9, 2005 7:11 AM
| Comments (2)
(Minor) Criticisms of Kinsella
May 5, 2005 6:40 AM
| Comments (11)
Austrians Can Now Pass the Market Test...
May 3, 2005 9:54 AM
| Comments (4)
Are Higher Prices a Blessing?
May 3, 2005 7:35 AM
| Comments (14)
Return to Gold?
April 30, 2005 7:02 AM
| Comments (55)
MES Study Guide, Chap. 11
April 27, 2005 7:07 PM
| Comments (0)
A Personal Request from Milton Friedman!
April 20, 2005 1:07 PM
| Comments (29)
What Are You Calling Anarchy?
April 1, 2005 6:20 AM
| Comments (48)
Price Spreads and Brokers
March 24, 2005 2:44 PM
| Comments (1)
Murphy Essay on Oil
March 17, 2005 2:57 PM
| Comments (9)
Libertarians for a National Sales Tax?
March 16, 2005 12:23 PM
| Comments (16)
More Study Guide Chapters for MES
March 14, 2005 12:22 PM
| Comments (5)
Eliminating Grocery Shortages
March 9, 2005 5:09 PM
| Comments (26)
Libertarians Against Theft: What Victorians!
February 24, 2005 5:35 AM
| Comments (9)
Accountants Don't Know Time is Money / Paper Idea
February 23, 2005 12:19 PM
| Comments (6)
Bush Raising Taxes? Kudlow Shocked, Shocked
February 20, 2005 8:40 AM
| Comments (17)
Objectivists Close to Rothbardians??
February 19, 2005 7:42 PM
| Comments (11)
Murphy Talk on Anarchism
February 11, 2005 11:14 AM
| Comments (5)
Kudlow's Analysis of Bush
February 10, 2005 5:49 AM
| Comments (2)
The Joy of Labor
February 4, 2005 6:16 PM
| Comments (11)
Liberty and Order, Home and Abroad
February 1, 2005 5:39 AM
| Comments (10)
Philosophers Reject Self-Referential Arguments?
January 25, 2005 10:14 AM
| Comments (20)
Keep Your Eye on the Assumptions
January 25, 2005 7:21 AM
| Comments (19)
Lacunae in Subjective Value Theory?
January 24, 2005 1:25 PM
| Comments (12)
"Simon Market" Starting Up
January 16, 2005 11:29 AM
| Comments (4)
Should Anarchists Take State Money?
January 10, 2005 8:08 AM
| Comments (40)
The Infant Industry Argument
January 2, 2005 5:10 AM
| Comments (25)
You Can Pay to Avoid Searches
December 30, 2004 10:39 AM
| Comments (1)
The Recent JEP Samuelson Article on Trade
December 29, 2004 8:46 AM
| Comments (7)
Jennifer Government, an an-cap novel
December 28, 2004 12:22 AM
| Comments (16)
Can Trade Bring Poverty?
December 24, 2004 6:41 AM
| Comments (23)
Wait a Sec: Why Are Misers Good?
December 23, 2004 12:10 AM
| Comments (11)
What Makes One an Economist?
December 18, 2004 4:16 PM
| Comments (16)
Chapter 8 Available for Rothbard Study Guide
December 16, 2004 12:55 PM
| Comments (5)
New Theory for Road Design
December 12, 2004 10:11 PM
| Comments (12)
Becker-Posner: Negative Expected Benefits
December 8, 2004 7:51 AM
| Comments (5)
People Can Just Get Along
December 6, 2004 7:21 AM
| Comments (13)
Böhm-Bawerk’s Critique of the Exploitation Theory of Interest
November 26, 2004 5:49 AM
| Comments (7)
Chapter 7 of MES Study Guide
November 10, 2004 8:46 PM
| Comments (2)
Oops! Reagan Record Not So Bad?
November 9, 2004 10:04 AM
| Comments (1)
Bread, Circuses, Tax Cuts, and Debt
November 5, 2004 7:40 AM
| Comments (12)
Bush's Fancy Finance
October 27, 2004 4:59 AM
| Comments (3)
Guardian Tries to Influence US Election
October 21, 2004 10:15 AM
| Comments (3)
Free Banking Conference in Panama
October 20, 2004 2:13 PM
| Comments (5)
A Study Guide to Rothbard
October 18, 2004 12:54 PM
| Comments (8)
Profit, Loss, and Pluto
October 14, 2004 7:51 AM
| Comments (13)
The Final Frontier
October 5, 2004 8:21 AM
| Comments (5)
What Does Marginality Mean?
August 11, 2004 5:13 AM
| Comments (16)
The Mystery of Central Banking
July 21, 2004 8:36 AM
| Comments (11)
Golfing Boehm-Bawerk
June 28, 2004 7:49 AM
| Comments (10)
Beggars Can Be Choosers
June 23, 2004 5:17 AM
| Comments (23)
What is the Proper Way to Run a School?
May 5, 2004 7:59 AM
| Comments (10)
Sraffa's Production of Fallacies by Means of Fallacies
April 8, 2004 9:53 AM
| Comments (2)
The Explanatory Power of Economic Logic
March 15, 2004 10:22 AM
| Comments (0)
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