Ep. 230 Bob Murphy vs. Dave Smith on the Johns Hopkins Lockdown Study
Bob explains the friendly exchange he had with Dave Smith regarding the new Johns Hopkins study that concluded lockdowns did little to reduce mortality. Smith had tweeted that in a sane world, all those favoring lockdowns would be publicly disgraced, while Bob argues that these studies are so open-ended that people on both sides can…
Ep. 123 Faulty Economic Justifications for the Coronavirus Lockdowns
Bob explains some of the basic–but crucial–errors in the cost/benefit analyses that have been offered by economists to justify the political lockdowns issued in light of the coronavirus. Specifically, economists have conflated voluntary physical distancing with coerced lockdowns, and they are also misusing the concept of a Value of a Statistical Life (VSL). Mentioned in…
Ep. 118 David R. Henderson Critiques Stimulus Bill and Organizes Protest of CA Lockdown
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interview. David R. Henderson’s Hoover article on the “anti-stimulus” bill. David’s past appearance on the Bob Murphy Show. David’s Soho Forum debate (against Justin Wolfers) on the lockdown. A news article on the protest David helped organize. Sample issues of the Lara-Murphy Report.…
Ep. 117 Refuting Some Economics Fallacies Related to the Corona Crisis
Bob tackles some Keynesian / MMT fallacies that have resurfaced in light of the response to the coronavirus. In particular, he responds to Larry Summers who viewed the lockdown as being akin to workers staying home over the weekend, and then to Neil Irwin on Twitter, who approvingly retweeted a thread arguing that it was…
Ep. 116 Libertarian NYC Doctor Explains the Physiology of the Coronavirus
Levi Machado is a Brazilian pathologist who trained and now works in the NYC hospital network. As a fan of libertarian writers, Levi recognizes the problems with coercive “solutions” to a pandemic. However, Levi explains in the discussion what COVID-19 actually can do to the body, and why it’s not really comparable to the flu. The…