Interviews

Saifedean Ammous, famous for The Bitcoin Standard, has a remarkable new book detailing the effects of fiat money on virtually every aspect of society. In the tradition of Guido Hülsmann's The Ethics of Money Production, Ammous returns with The Fiat Standard. From a framework of Austrian economics, this book explains the sordid history of central banks severing currencies from gold redemption—both...

Murray Rothbard's seminal 1965 essay "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty" reads every bit as well today as it did 50 years ago. Rothbard defines liberalism and conservatism against the backdrop of the European Old Order, and skewers the incoherence of both in their modern forms. This brief work, steeped in history and full of optimism, shows Rothbard as a careful and strategic thinker about...

Financial journalist John Tamny has written the definitive book on the disastrous political mismanagement of Covid-19—and the resulting (still unfolding) calamities. When Politicians Panicked is a superb analysis of the economic tradeoffs ignored by alarmist Covid policymakers, and a blow by blow account of their bungling in the early months of 2020. But this is also a book about economic growth,...

Our guest is Ted Okon, a nationally recognized expert on the policy and politics of cancer care. Mr. Okon has testified before Congress on cancer issues and is frequently on Capitol Hill discussing the nation’s cancer care delivery system. SHOW NOTES​ Ted Okon: Twitter and Community Oncology Alliance website Watch the episode on our YouTube channel

Bob concludes his series on areas where he’s changed his mind. This episode covers the economics of climate change, fractional reserve banking, the US gold standard, his notorious inflation bets, Nelson Nash’s Infinite Banking Concept, and the God of the Bible. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Bob’s chapter on the gold standardMises’ plan to put the USD back on goldBob’s blog...

Matt McCaffrey is an Austrian economist who is currently associate professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Manchester. He talks with Bob about American economist Frank Fetter, before moving on to a staple of his research: the connection between Chinese military history and entrepreneurship. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Matt McCaffrey’s paper on Chinese military...

Professor Roberta Modugno joins the show to finish our look at Rothbard's seminal treatise on normative libertarianism, The Ethics of Liberty. Dr. Modugno elaborates on Rothbard's disagreements with Mises regarding ethical justifications for a free society, and defends his uncompromising views on the nature of the state. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Rothbard's The Ethics o...

Mises.org editor Ryan McMaken joins the show to tackle some of the toughest and most controversial chapters of Rothbard's groundbreaking treatise The Ethics of Liberty. McMaken and Jeff Deist cover abortion, the rights of children, defamation, and all the "what-ifs" contained in lifeboat situations. They also move into part III of the book, where Rothbard pulls no punches concerning the nature of...

Scott Sumner is a monetary economist with the Mercatus Center. He famously argued in late 2008 that the Fed was too tight with monetary policy, and eventually he has convinced many economists of his views. In this episode he explains why interest rates and even monetary aggregates are not good indicators of the stance of monetary policy, whereas NGDP growth is much better. Mentioned in the Episode...

Jeff Deist and David Gornoski talk about some of the recent news and relevant topics such as the buying up of homes by Black Rock; the federal reserve’s connection to big corporations; the out of control state of the Fed’s reverse REPO market; and what the average person can do to protect themselves from government interference in the market. Find more from David Gornoski on A Neighbor's Choice.

Our guest is Professor David Heymann, an American physician and epidemiologist based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has held leading positions at the WHO for more than 20 years, coordinating global responses to epidemics such as Ebola, AIDS, polio, and SARS. He also served as Chairman of Public Health England from 2009 until 2017. Professor Heymann shares his perspective...

In response to a listener request, Bob continues a 3-part series explaining areas where his views have changed. In this episode, he covers government debt and future generations, accuracy in polemical writing, the Fed being a private corporation, whether nice guys finish last, and mainstream utility theory. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Bob’s “The Economist Zone” article wi...

Lawyer and legal theorist Stephan Kinsella joins the show as we dive into Part II of Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty, grappling with the foundational issues of crime, proportionality, and contract. When is property justly held? When may injuries to a person or property be addressed with force, and how much force? How do we deal with one another contractually, in terms of promises and expectation?...

In response to a listener request, Bob starts a 3-part series explaining areas where his views have changed. In this episode, he covers trade deficits, justice vs. mercy, the 2000 election, WMDs in Iraq, and Arrow’s Theorem. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Bob’s article on why free traders should be more careful when defending trade deficitsBob’s article explaining the capita...

Murray Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty is a sweeping treatise which creates nothing short of a normative political philosophy of liberty. Contra Hume, Rothbard attempts to derive an "ought" from an "is," using natural law precepts and rigorous logic. Professor Walter Block joins the show to discuss the first section of the book, and gives us his unstinting (and always deontological!) take on Roth...

Vijay Boyapati left a lucrative job at Google in 2007 to move to New Hampshire and campaign for Ron Paul. In this episode, Vijay explains why the other Austrians should have listened to him in 2010 when he warned that their inflation predictions were wrong. He also explains his popular 2018 essay, “The Bullish Case for Bitcoin.” Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Vijay Boyapati’...

Jeff Herbener is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute and an economics professor at Grove City College. At the 2021 Austrian Economics Research Conference, Jeff presented a defense of the pure time preference theory of interest, and mentioned Bob’s critique of it. This episode is a very informative discussion of their views. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube ver...

Bob gives a guest lecture for Jonathan Newman’s MA course for the Mises Institute, on the history of, and new developments in, the pure time preference theory of interest. After summarizing the work of Bohm-Bawerk, Fetter, and MIses, Bob explains his own perspective and then how Jeff Herbener partially agreed with Bob’s critique. This episode sets the table for Bob’s interview with Herbener in ep....

America's "Old Right"—rooted in 19th century liberalism but birthed in the 1930s to oppose the New Deal—was strongly laissez-faire and non-interventionist. Murray Rothbard wrote the comprehensive story of that movement, it's influences and influence, and its destruction at the hands of Buckleyite Cold Warriorism. Modern conservatism sadly bears little resemblance to the Old Right, and America is w...

Rothbard called Mises's The Theory of Money and Credit "the best book on money ever written." But Rothbard himself may have written the best money book for lay readers, namely What Has Government Done to Our Money?  Bob Murphy joins the show to discuss this superb and eminently readable tract: a mini-course on money itself, from its origins and uses to its degradation by kings, poli...

Stephan Livera hosts a popular podcast on Bitcoin and Austrian economics. He recently had Bob on to discuss, appropriately enough, the economics of Bitcoin from an Austrian perspective. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Stephan Livera’s YouTube pageBob and Silas Barta’s guide to BitcoinBMS ep. 191 clarifying the debate over Bitcoin ​For more information, see BobMurphyShow....

Our guest is Dan Morgan, MD, MS, a physician and epidemiologist in Baltimore, Maryland. He is Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Chief Hospital Epidemiologist at the Baltimore VAMC, and a fellow at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP). We discuss a recent paper he co-authored about probabilistic diagnostic rea...

Politics degrades our lives in innumerable ways, from personal relationships to work to places of worship. Even sports and movies now seem to have become deeply politicized. The political class and political system in America appear intent on creating division and hatred rather than cooperation. The two political tribes in America—red and blue—are divided on everything: abortion, guns, immigration...