Matt McCaffrey is a former Mises Institute research fellow with an expertise in the American economist (and Austrian fellow-traveler) Frank Fetter. He joins Bob to discuss his newly published journal article exploring the dispute Fetter had with the august British economist Alfred Marshall over the theory of rent.

Dr. McCaffrey's Journal Article: https://Mises.org/HAP480a
Frank Fetter's Capital, Interest, and Rent: https://Mises.org/HAP480b
Matt McCaffrey, “Frank Fetter and the Austrian Tradition in the United States”: https://Mises.org/HAP480c

The Human Action Podcast

Matt McCaffrey on Frank Fetter vs. Alfred Marshall on the Theory of Rent

Bob walks through diagrams from Hayek's famous LSE lectures to explain the Austrian view of the boom-bust cycle.

The Diagrams Referenced in this Episode: https://Mises.org/HAP481a
Hayek's Prices and Production: https://Mises.org/HAP481b
Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State: https://Mises.org/HAP481c
Bob's Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State: https://Mises.org/HAP481d
Roger Garrison's PowerPoint on the Hayekian Triangle: https://Mises.org/HAP481e

Why Government Relief Spending Only Makes the Recession Worse

Bob looks at the misconceptions and misuses of GDP accounting, explaining why this widely accepted metric often paints a misleading picture of economic health.

Bob's 2009 Mises Article on Krugman: https://Mises.org/HAP482a
Human Action Podcast Episode 481 on Business Cycle Theory: https://Mises.org/HAP482b
Bob's Mises Article on GDP: https://Mises.org/HAP482c

The Flaws of GDP Accounting Explained

Lawrence McQuillan from the Independent Institute joins Bob to delve into the regulatory failures and mismanagement behind the wildfire crisis in California. They discuss the environmental policies that exacerbate risks, offer practical solutions to firefighting and prevention shortcomings, and examine the role of private stewardship in mitigating future disasters. This episode overall sheds light on how California’s political landscape and approach to wildfires continues to fuel a recurring tragedy.

Lawrence's 2017 Article Detailing the CA's Fire Prevention Problem: https://Mises.org/HAP483a
Lawrence’s 2019 Golden Fleece Report Submission on Mismanagement in CA: https://Mises.org/HAP483b
Lawrence’s 2020 Interview on the Reasons Ca’s Fires Keep Happening: https://Mises.org/HAP483c
Lawrence’s 2024 Article on Lessons From the Lahaina Wildfires:: https://Mises.org/HAP483d

Lawrence McQuillan Explains The Policy Inferno Behind the California Wildfires

Murphy recently squared off against Nathan Tankus in a ZeroHedge debate focusing on Austrian economics vs. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Jonathan Newman watched the debate, and selected three clips highlighting key areas of dispute. Jonathan and Bob elaborate on the issues and anticipate possible MMT replies.

Bob's ZeroHedge Debate with Nathan Tankus: https://Mises.org/HAP484a
Bob and Jonathan's Tag-Team Mises University Lecture on MMT: https://Mises.org/HAP484b
Bob's Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics Paper on The Deficit Myth: https://Mises.org/HAP483c
William Hutt's The Theory of Idle Resources: https://Mises.org/HAP484d

Murphy and Newman Do a Postgame Analysis of ZeroHedge MMT Debate

Bob analyzes President Trump's recent remarks praising the revenue capacity of tariffs. He shows that historically, tariffs only bought in a small fraction of what income taxes currently yield, meaning federal spending would have to be sharply cut in order to phase out the income tax.

HAPod Ep. 458 on Tariffs vs. Income Taxes: https://Mises.org/HAP485a
Brian Domitrovic's Forbes Article, "Supply-Siders Battle Their Tariff Critics": https://Mises.org/HAP485b
Trump on Tariffs: https://Mises.org/HAP485c
The Chart Shown in this Episode: https://Mises.org/HAP485d

Would Trump's Plan to Replace Income Tax with Tariffs Work?

Erick Brimen is the CEO of Honduras Próspera, which is described as a "start up city" that offers choice in regulatory treatment. It is an exciting application of libertarian theory to the messy real world of existing States.

Find Out More about Honduras Próspera: https://Mises.org/HAP486a

Erick Brimen Explains the Free City of Próspera

Bob first reviews the standard libertarian case for legalizing drugs as the way to neutralize the Mexican drug cartels. Then he plays a recent clip where Dave Smith argues that drug prohibition leads to violence because (among other factors) you can't call the cops if someone steals your product. Bob argues that libertarians should stop making this (invalid) argument.

Bob's Lessons for the Young Economist: https://Mises.org/HAP490a
Part of the Problem Episode 1233: https://Mises.org/HAP490b

Perfecting the Libertarian Argument for Dealing with the Drug Cartels

Vincent Geloso and Chandler Reilly have a new paper in which they use Rothbard's "Private Product Remaining" (PPR) as a lower bound on estimates of national output, to be contrasted with the convention GDP statistics as an upper bound. Bob has the authors explain Rothbard's proposal and how they are trying to introduce it to the economics profession.

The Paper, "National Output Without Government?": https://Mises.org/HAP503a
The Human Action Podcast Episode on Dubious Origins of GDP/GNP: https://Mises.org/HAP503b
The Bob Murphy Show Episode With Alex Salter Criticizing "State Capacity": https://Mises.org/HAP503c

New Academic Paper Uses Rothbard's National Output Metric

Bob hosts economist Daniel Lacalle to analyze the controversial Big Beautiful Bill. Daniel explains why, despite its imperfections, the bill represents a vital first step toward curbing government spending and protecting private-sector prosperity from excessive state intervention.

Daniel's Article, "The Big Beautiful Bill Is Much Better Than You Think": https://Mises.org/HAP504a
Thomas Massie's X Exchange on the Hidden Costs of the BBB: https://Mises.org/HAP504b

The Debate Over the Big Beautiful Bill

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New tracks tagged #human action podcast