Ep. 89 David Gordon on His Interactions with Hayek and Rothbard, the Philosophy of Economics, and Libertarianism as an Alleged Suicide Pact
David Gordon is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute who has a long history in Austrian economics and libertarianism. He talks with Bob about his personal story, including taking an undergrad class at UCLA with Hayek as his professor. Then they turn to philosophical issues in economics, and end with an analysis of the…
Ep. 88 Ludwig von Mises versus God
Bob tackles a common objection from atheist libertarians: Doesn’t Mises (in Human Action) refute the very notion of the Biblical God? Specifically, why wouldn’t an omnipotent, omniscient being remove all uneasiness with one action? Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The pdf to the Scholar’s Edition of Human Action. Help support the Bob…
Ep. 87 Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder Discusses the Pros and Cons of “Dark Matter” in Physics, and the Limitations of Existing Computer Models of the Climate System
Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder is a Research Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she heads the “Analog Systems for Gravity Duals” group. Bob first asks her to explain why physicists began using the concepts of “dark matter” and “dark energy” to explain their observations of galaxies. Then they discuss her June New York Times…
Ep. 86 Further Thoughts on Hoppe’s Argumentation Ethics and Essays on Praxeology
Due to listener request, Bob offers further thoughts on Hoppe’s argumentation ethics, following his discussion (on ep. 79) with Stephan Kinsella. Bob then discusses Hoppe’s profound essays on praxeology, in which he argues that Mises has solved the famous mind-body problem in philosophy. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The Bob Murphy Show…
Ep. 85 Expert Researcher Wojciech Kopczuk Explains Why Economists Have Such Different Estimates of Inequality in Wealth Concentration and Tax Payments
Wojciech Kopczuk is a Columbia economics professor who co-authored (in 2004) one of the leading estimates of wealth concentration in the literature, along with current progressive darling Emmanuel Saez. But ever since Thomas Piketty’s bestselling book on wealth inequality, Saez has published research with Gabriel Zucman, showing dramatically different results. Kopczuk explains why economists can…