Is the age of Milton Friedman over?
Some may say so. But we are still living in it
IT IS VOGUISH to declare the ideas of Milton Friedman dead, whether you think they deserve damnation or eulogy. In America, prominent Democrats spit out his name contemptuously. The most influential American economist of the 20th century is routinely disparaged as a heartless fetishist of Ayn Randian capitalism, who evangelised corporate greed at home and authoritarianism abroad. Friedman is a special bugbear of President Joe Biden. While running for office in 2020, he declared that “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Is the age of Milton Friedman over?”
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From the December 16th 2023 edition
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