Ep. 277 Lawrence Ludlow on Romans 13 Being Spiritual not Political
Lawrence Ludlow has an MA in medieval studies and gives Bob numerous lines of evidence to suggest that Paul in Romans 13 is referring to spiritual authorities rather than political ones. In this interpretation, there is no tension between the New Testament and standard libertarianism. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of…
Ep. 276 Even Milton Friedman Slipped in His Defense of Trade Deficits
Bob uses the illustrious Milton Friedman to demonstrate a depressing tendency among economists to overreact in their zeal to defend trade deficits, where they end up arguing that it’s necessarily beneficial to live beyond one’s means. Although this could be true in certain cases, it’s not true in general. Bob then explains that the original mercantilists…
Ep. 275 Why the SuperAIs Won’t Steal Our Jobs or Slaughter Us, Part 2
Bob uses comparative advantage to to argue that human workers will always find a place in the economy, regardless of how productive super-AI systems may become. He then addresses the fear that superAIs will simply rearrange our molecules for building material. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1 of this series.…
Ep. 274 Why the SuperAIs Won’t Steal Our Jobs or Slaughter Us, Part 1
Bob uses basic economics to argue that human workers will always find a place in the economy, regardless of how productive super-AI systems may become. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Bob Murphy Show episode on reparations and AI. Help support the Bob Murphy Show. The audio production for this episode was provided…
Ep. 273 The Austrian Theory of Interest, Current and Future
For a chapter in Per Bylund’s new collection, Bob explained the pure time preference theory (PTPT) of interest, and then offered suggestions for future work on an Austrian theory of interest. He summarizes his chapter in this episode. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Per Bylund’s 2022 edited collection. Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3…