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 and Other Links of Interest:

• Scott Sumner's Mercatus page. His blog, The Money Illusion.
• Scott argues the Fed through 2012 had been tight.
• Scott's older book The Midas Paradox. Scott's forthcoming book The Money Illusion. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
• Bob's review of The Midas Paradox and his assessment of Market Monetarism.
• EconTalk interview with Michael Belongia (which brings up Milton Friedman's critical comments about NGDP targeting).
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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 with links to the original contributions to the Great Debt Debate. Bob's Mises University lecture on the topic.
• Bob’s link for Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom (which features a lecture on government debt burdens).
• Bob's FEE article on the origin of public schools.
• Bob's essay on advice for single Christian men.
• Bryan Caplan's "Why I Am Not an Austrian Economist."
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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 deficits.
• Bob's article explaining the capital account in reference to trade deficits, in the context of criticizing Peter Schiff. Then Bob's mea culpa.
• Bob’s article on Robert Mundell.
• BMS episode explaining Arrow's Theorem.
• Steve Landsburg's The Armchair Economist. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
• Bob's link for Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom (which features a lecture on Arrow's Theorem).
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

David Howden is Chair of the Department of Business and Economics at Saint Louis University's Madrid campus. He earned his PhD under Jesus Huerta de Soto. Bob asks David about his experiences as a next generation Austrian economist, and in particular his work on financial markets.

Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:

• David Howden's academic page.
• Jesus Huerta de Soto's book on business cycles.
• Bob's critique of Fama on bubbles.
• Bob explains his botched inflation prediction.
• Mark Spitznagel's the Dao of Capital. Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
• Bob's article on social function of call and put options.
• Tyler Cowen interview of John Cochrane.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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's 2010 article on credit deflation.
• Vijay's 2018 article on "The Bullish Case for Bitcoin."
• Bob's guide (with Silas Barta) to Bitcoin.
• Bob's article on Hayek on private fiat money.
• Bob explains his botched inflation prediction.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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. 199.

Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:

• The YouTube version of this lecture (which has the PPT slides).
• Information on the Mises Institute's online Master's Program.
• Bob's dissertation on Austrian capital theory.
• Bob's interview with Jeff Herbener (BMS ep. 199).
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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 version of this lecture (which has the PowerPoint slides).
• Jeff Herbener lecture on interest at Mises University.
• BMS ep. 198 (which provides context for this discussion).
• BMS ep. 119 with Guido Hulsmann (who also tries to replace the Pure Time Preference Theory).
• Bob’s dissertation (which is technical) on Austrian capital theory. Bob's article (for the lay person) explaining BB's critique of the naive productivity theory. An intermediate difficulty paper, in which Bob explains problems with viewing interest as "present goods are more valuable than future goods."
• Bob's 3-part series (one, two, three) on Capital and Interest in the Austrian tradition.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

David Beckworth is a monetary economist with the Mercatus Center. He explains the rationale of the Market Monetarists (such as Scott Sumner) who support NGDP targeting as the best monetary policy. He also explains recent innovations in Fed policy, and critiques the MMTers.

Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:

• The YouTube version of this interview.
• David Beckworth's homepage and podcast, Macro Musings.
• David Beckworth's book Boom and Bust Banking. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
• George Selgin's monograph Floored! and book Less Than Zero. #Commissions Earned
• Beckworth's analysis of the NGDP gap, average inflation targeting, NGDPLT as ideal policy, and critique of MMT.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

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 page.
• Bob and Silas Barta's guide to Bitcoin. BMS ep. 191 clarifying the debate over Bitcoin.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.

Scott Horton comes back on the show to discuss his new book, Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism. He and Bob largely focus on Osama Bin Laden's strategy for drawing the U.S. into unwinnable wars. They also discuss the role of Israel in U.S. foreign policy.

Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:

• The YouTube version of this interview.
• Scott's new book Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism. #Commissions Earned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
• The archive of interviews at The Scott Horton Show. The homepage of the Libertarian Institute.
• Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.