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?”
Culture December 16th 2023
- Conservatives are trying to disrupt Hollywood, with some success
- When Charlie Chaplin was cancelled
- “Amazing Grace” is a 200-year-old song with a surprising history
- Some thought covid would change literature. It has not
- The best albums of 2023, as chosen by The Economist
- Is the age of Milton Friedman over?
From the December 16th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Ten years after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, satire is under siege
Public support is waning for the right to offend
Why do rebels and revolutionaries love “Paradise Lost”?
John Milton’s epic poem has galvanised rabble-rousers for centuries
The Colombian powerhouse behind some of streaming’s biggest hits
If you enjoyed “Narcos” or “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, you have Dynamo to thank
What Haruki Murakami’s fans get wrong about him
He is not so much a surrealist as a dogged observer of solitude
The British take their crisps more seriously than any other nation
No other snack bridges the class divide in the same way
“Babygirl” and the trouble with equality
In Nicole Kidman’s new film, a female CEO has an affair with an intern. Boo or bravo?