Bob Murphy Show Ep. 490 Remembering the Economic Contributions of Rothbard and Garrison
Mar 13, 2026
Adam Haman, economics commentator and podcaster known for HamanNature, returns to reflect on Murray Rothbard and Roger Garrison. They discuss Rothbard’s stages-of-production and a detailed bread production walkthrough. Conversation covers Garrison’s capital-based macro, the loanable funds link to physical production, and how interest-rate distortions create unsustainable booms.
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Roger Garrison's Wry Reply To An Email Debate
- Bob recalls an email exchange where Roger Garrison humorously corrected him: after Bob critiqued a savings argument, Garrison replied 'I think Murphy needs to take another shower.'
- The story illustrates Garrison's wry humor and collegial rebuttal style.
Stages Of Production Add Time To The Circular Flow
- The Austrian stages of production add a time dimension missing from the textbook circular flow diagram.
- Rothbard's multi-stage bread example shows how intermediate inputs and time cause sequential flows of payments and output across periods.
Interest As The Gap In Time Between Input And Output
- Rothbard decomposes a steady-state production structure to show interest as intertemporal price gaps.
- In his bread chain each stage fronts costs and sells later at a markup (5% in his example), producing 17 ounces interest versus 83 consumption income.
