Читать книгу Milton Friedman - Eamonn Butler - Страница 8

People who met Friedman found him impossible to dislike. He was indeed a brilliant, and highly personable, communicator, always smiling, particularly when enjoying a good argument – which was most of the time, since his novel and challenging ideas were so frequently in the minority.

But it is not my purpose here to take Friedman’s side of those arguments against his many critics, or elaborate his case. I wrote this book on the eve of his centenary year, a good moment to take stock of his life’s work and lasting influence. Friedman’s written work amounted to scores of books, both technical and non-technical, and hundreds of articles, not to mention his TV series and countless media appearances and interviews. My ambition is only to distil from all this the essence of Friedman’s ideas and present them systematically and simply.

In doing so, it is natural that I should give slightly greater space to those ideas that seem most relevant for the issues we face today – Friedman’s views on the origins of boom-bust cycles, for example, and how to prevent them. Yet I have also indicated where time has tested his ideas – as in the practical difficulties that the financial authorities found when they did try to control money and inflation as Friedman prescribed.

As for his libertarian social policies – decriminalising drugs, ending the state licensing of doctors and lawyers, getting the government out of hospitals, schools and universities – Friedman remains, as he once put it, “so happily blessed with critics” that I see no point in adding myself to them here.