# Bob Murphy (economist)

Robert Patrick Murphy (born May 23, 1976) is an American economist. Murphy is research assistant professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. He has been affiliated with Laffer Associates, the Pacific Research Institute, the Institute for Energy Research (IER), the Independent Institute, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and the Fraser Institute.

## Education

Murphy received a BA in economics at Hillsdale College in 1998 and a Ph.D. in economics at New York University in 2003.

## Career

Murphy is research assistant professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. He has been a visiting assistant professor at Hillsdale College, and a visiting scholar at New York University. He has been affiliated with Laffer Associates, the Pacific Research Institute, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) as the senior economist focusing on climate change, the Independent Institute, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and the Fraser Institute in Canada.
Murphy has written books such as Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action (Independent Institute, 2015), Primal Prescription with Doug McGuff, MD regarding healthcare in the United States, and Lessons for the Young Economist (Mises Institute 2010). He has written study guides to works of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. Murphy authored the 2007 book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism. Murphy's book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, published in 2009, blamed the Depression on government policies.
Murphy has been criticized by economists Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman for predicting that the quantitative easing practiced by the Federal Reserve in the late 2000s would create high inflation by 2013, which did not materialize by that time. However, Murphy was mostly off only in the timing and not the substance of his prediction, as by 2022 inflation reached a record high of 9.1%.
In 2013 Murphy challenged Krugman to a debate and unnamed supporters of Murphy promised to donate $100,000 to a charity if Krugman would debate Murphy on economic policy issues. A promotional website was established for the challenge. In response to a radio show caller, Krugman rejected the proposed debate, saying that the subject “is not something to be settled by public circuses".

### Environmental policy

Murphy has stated related to climate change that, "Many economists favor some form of government penalty on CO2 emissions because of the threat of climate change. However, the steps in the argument—going from computer simulations to a specific, numerical tax on economic activity today—are riddled with uncertainties".
Murphy has additionally been quoted as saying, "Given the large uncertainties at each major step of the case for reliance on a carbon tax, economists should reconsider their current support for such a policy".
Additionally, Murphy has been quoted as stating, "I reject the peak oil theory insofar as it refers to technological limits on human ingenuity".

## Religious views

Murphy is a Christian and has stated in his writings that "my ethical beliefs are informed by my Christian faith, and I am a firm believer in natural law".

## Books

* Chaos Theory (2002) – Two essays on anarcho-capitalism; one discussing the production of defense services, and the other describing the provision of private criminal and civil justice.
* The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism (2007) – A volume in The Politically Incorrect Guide series published by Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-1596985049 OCLC 79860752
* The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal (2009). ISBN 978-1596980969 OCLC 315239348
* Lessons for the Young Economist (2010) – available at Mises.org Library. ISBN 978-1933550886 OCLC 681711737
* Murphy, Robert P. (2018). Contra Krugman: Smashing the Errors of America's Most Famous Keynesian. Paul, Ron (foreword); Woods, Thomas E. (preface). ISBN 978-1722331795.