Milton Friedman, whose life I fondly commemorate with this article, was probably responsible for more human happiness and well-being than any other individual in the 20th century. And yet his tireless efforts on behalf of humanity were, for much of his life, greeted with taunts, ridicule, and abuse.
Every Filipino politician, business leader, academic and bureacrat read Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose.
Milton Friedman By Mark M. Alexander
Speaking of the need for free markets for freedom, Friedman argued that "the tide of ideas isn't local. It's international; it's worldwide." Indeed, his influence has been felt worldwide. Friedman's "Chicago Boys" provided economic leadership in countries around the globe: Thatcher's Great Britain, Chile, the Czech Republic, Portugal, South Korea and Spain, to name a few. By enacting Friedman's free-market ideas - hammering inflation, reducing trade barriers, inducing foreign investment and cutting public spending - these economies went from dormancy to dynamism within a matter of years.
Milton Friedman's Love of Life by Claudia Rosett
Milton and Rose Friedman were family friends. One of the finest evenings I can remember was a dinner at my parents’ home in Chicago, more than a quarter of a century ago, where Milton traded witticisms with one of the best, the late Nobel laureate and free-market economist George Stigler — another great believer in the importance of individual freedom. It’s been too long to remember the lines*, but in thinking about it tonight, I went looking on the internet for the photo posted above. It shows diminutive Milton and tall George strolling together near their offices at the University of Chicago — a scene that someone at the time dubbed “Two Giants of the Chicago School.” It captures, perhaps, a halcyon moment in the modern history of ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment