The Romance of Economics (Milton and Rose Friedman)

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 22, 2006 | TUNKU VARADARAJAN

[RWR8189]

PALO ALTO, Calif.--One doesn't interview a man like Milton Friedman--the Nobel laureate in economics in 1976 and among the five or six most consequential thinkers of the 20th century--without doing some assiduous homework.

So I gathered his books--reading some, re-reading others--and made pages and pages of notes. I also emailed several intellectual heavyweights, asking them what they might enquire of Mr. Friedman--now 94 years of age--if they had him cornered at a cocktail party. Replies flooded back. "Inflation targeting," wrote a (marginally) younger Nobel economist. "Education," said another Nobel laureate. "Does the recent record of spending with a Republican president and Congress make him reconsider his support for the party?" wrote a man who, until a while ago, worked on economic policy in the White House. "Is there something distinctly difficult for capitalism in the Islamic world?" wondered a Middle East scholar. "What music does he listen to?" a Democratic political economist mused, unpredictably. More predictably, a big-cheese blogger was "dying" to know whether "Milton reads blogs--and will he ever write one?"

Everyone had a question--and many had more than one (an economist in Chicago had 10). For Milton Friedman is everyone's idea of an American oracle, an American sage.

Sages, of course, have their oddities, and the interview last week--at Mr. Friedman's surprisingly petite office at the Hoover Institution, on the campus of Stanford University--got off to a surreal beginning. By his desk hangs a map of Belize--one of those stylized souvenirs made of cloth, embroidered to catch the eye. Why, I asked him, did he have a map of Belize on his wall? Mr. Friedman turned, looked at the object, and said: "I don't know. I really don't know." Not a good start to the interview, some might say; so I asked, by way of ice-

[Mr. Brightside]

Milton Freidman bump.

Free to Choose was the first conservative book I ever read.

[Mr. Brightside]

OK.

Friedman, not Freidman.

I thought it was "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking."

But I guess the rule here is, " 'i' before 'e' except after 'c.'"

[downtownconservative]

Rose Friedman seems the more perspicacious of the two.

[ishabibble]

Terrific article! Thanks for posting it as I have often wondered how Mr. Friedman was faring these days, and it's wonderful to get a glimpse of the "power behind the throne".

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Free to Choose was the first conservative book I ever read.

Me too. That, along with Fraser's The Golden Bough and Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago completely altered my perspective.

[1rudeboy]

Why, I asked him, did he have a map of Belize on his wall? Mr. Friedman turned, looked at the object, and said: "I don't know. I really don't know."

Only an absolute genius (I'm serious) can make a comment like that.

[K-oneTexas]

Thanks for this great article. Entertaining and informative. Friedman has for a long time been a favorite of mine. I think he is the best economist of all time. Throughly enjoyable article for many reasons.

He said many years ago that the primary economic function of the Federal government is defense. Wish others (esp. in DC) would hear this.

[mjolnir]

Milton is great but Rose Friedman absolutely rocks!

I was a little disappointed with Milton's analysis of the political situation in the 1990's. It was the Republican congress that held down spending, not President Clinton. The notion that with a Democratic president in place, the Republican congress would fight spending better can't reasonably be based upon that one experience. For one thing, President Clinton worked against the free market in many other ways, such as his antitrust policy, his court nominees and his tax policy. Besides, HillaryCare was avoided only by a massive effort and it could very easily have gone the other way. Electing Democrats to balance electing Republicans is a loser's game.

[labard1]

"Rose Friedman seems the more perspicacious of the two."

My understanding is that she is the one who urged Milton to write for the popular media, and that she was the moving force behind the "Free to Choose" series.

They also reared a brilliant next generation economist (David Friedman), who is even more Libertarian than his parents.

My favorite metaphor for Milton Friedman's impact on economics is that of an Errol Flynn lone swordsman singlehandedly capturing a modern battleship. That's not far from the truth.

[Eagles Talon IV]

"Rose Friedman seems the more perspicacious of the two.

That's to bad. You'd think they'd have air conditioning.

[rightthinkingwoman]

Imprimus carried an interview with him as well this month. Below is the site for an edited version of the transcript. Sorry I don't know how to do links.

http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/

[rightthinkingwoman]

It did work. Excellent!

[grey_whiskers]

Fraser's The Golden Bough

First time I've EVER seen that mentioned outside of C.S. Lewis' autobiography.

I was beginning to think it fictitious.

Cheers!

[Choose Ye This Day]

We're in the middle of going through the transcripts of the 1980 series, "Free to Choose."

The transcripts can be read in the following threads:

The Power of the Market http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1667407/posts
Tyranny of Control http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1668000/posts
Anatomy of Crisis http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1668765/posts
From Cradle to Grave http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1669367/posts
Created Equal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1670092/posts