Michael Munger

Professor of Political Science
Duke University
Prof. Munger received his Ph.D. in Economics at Washington University in St. Louis in 1984. He later worked as a staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission, and taught at Dartmouth College, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC he directed the MPA Program, which trains public service professionals, especially city and county management.
He moved to Duke in 1997, and was Chair of the Political Science Department from 2000 through 2010. He has won three University-wide teaching awards (the Howard Johnson Award, an NAACP “Image” Award for teaching about race, and admission to the Bass Society of Teaching Fellows). He is currently director of the interdisciplinary PPE Program at Duke University, working under Dr. Geoffrey Brennan who directs the joint Duke-UNC PPE Program.
His research interests include the study of the morality of exchange and the working of legislative institutions in producing policy. Much of his recent work has been in philosophy, examining the concept of truly voluntary exchange, a concept for which Munger coined the term “euvoluntary.” He has created a new blog devoted to investigating examples of, and controversies about, euvoluntary exchange.
His fourth and most recent book, Analyzing Policy, was published in August 2000 by W.W. Norton. He blogs at Kids Prefer Cheese and Division of Labour. Munger may be best known, however, for his podcasts playing McMahon to Russ Roberts’ Carson on “EconTalk.”
Blog Posts
Congestion tax in Manhattan: Readers speak!
Last month, I wrote a post that asked whether Manhattan should tax ride-shares, tax all vehicles, do something else, or do nothing at all. And you had some ideas about…Does Manhattan need a congestion tax on Uber?
Charging “prices” does not a market make.
Learn More...Tear down those statues
I have tried to avoid saying much about the “Confederate statues” kerfuffle. That’s partly because the issue is more complicated than it’s often made out to be.
Learn More...Truthiness and the origins of “fake news”
If I have my news, and you have yours, and both of us rely on truthiness — the uncontestable “essential” truth of our beliefs, regardless of facts — it’s impossible to have a conversation.
Learn More...3 reasons why the NRA is so powerful
Organized interest groups are able to control a lot of policy making, even if most people in the unorganized public disagree with them.
Learn More...Looking at randomness but seeing conspiracies
The wary cat has a theory of the world: “Stove burns you. Stay away from stove.”
Learn More...Permissionless innovation: The fuzzy idea that rules our lives
People sometimes ask me, “What is the most important concept in political economy?” The answer is easy, but subtle …
Learn More...Why a Canadian city tore down the staircase its residents had always wanted to build
Toronto city officials recently threatened a man with fines for building an unlicensed staircase in a local park.
Learn More...No, corporations are not “people.” But the First Amendment still applies.
A few weeks ago, I was on the toxic cesspool that Twitter has become, and got a reply to one of my Tweets: “You libertarians need to realize corporations=/=people if you want people to take you seriously.”
Learn More...Why we can’t break up with our stuff — yet
Fifty years from now, people will look back on the turn of the century and wonder about us. They will wonder why we were so wasteful, so selfish.
Learn More...Economist Jokes: A Typology
In which economist Michael Munger explains jokes, making them funnier. Seriously though, if you want to know why economist jokes exist, this is your jam.
Learn More...In praise of safe spaces on campus
I want to come out in favor of safe spaces. Not everywhere, or for all purposes, but in general I think there should be a strong presumption in favor of…America has a bad case of “Whataboutism”
A number of folks I respect have gone full Never Trump, and a few have come out in support of the administration, to varying degrees. But quite a few of “us” have rejected full-on support or opposition, lapsing into what I’ve come to think of as “But What About….?”-ism.
Learn More...Car crashes and hockey fights — how safety mandates can make life more dangerous
Suppose you want to reduce deaths in automobile accidents. Should you make cars safer? Seems like a no-brainer, right? But consider: suppose instead of an airbag in your steering column, we put a six-inch dagger.
Learn More...Getting prices right for the Dakota Access Pipeline
One great benefit of markets is that prices tell us what to do. Not through orders, which often don’t work, but through incentives.
Learn More...The welfare state is a (bad) polygamist
The road to tyranny is paved with good intentions.
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