The Indispensable Milton Friedman: Essays on Politics and Economics - Tapa dura

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE FREE MARKET

Milton Friedman is one of the most famous economists in history, and with good reason. He revolutionized our understanding of the Great Depression, helped establish the Chicago school of economics, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. But eclipsing these achievements is the vital role he played at the crux of the long debate over capitalism in America. The 1970s was an all-time nadir for free market economics in the popular imagination. At the time it seemed that state management of the economy had finally triumphed. It was Friedman who almost single-handedly kept the argument for capitalism alive, stressing that the free market is the only way to achieve prosperity—and retain personal liberty.

The Indispensable Milton Friedman is the first general collection of Friedman’s writings that spans his entire career, offering twenty scintillating essays selected from over five decades of writing, teaching, and research—including some that have never been republished. These essays provide always-fresh insights into topics that continue to drive the public debate today, from health care reform and drug legalization to school vouchers and the economics of John Maynard Keynes.

Among the indispensable writings included in this book:

• “Liberalism, Old Style” (1955), discusses the transformation of the original meaning of liberalism
  
• “The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory” (1970), his most important lecture on monetary policy
  
• “The Tide in the Affairs of Men” (1988, coauthored with his wife, Rose D. Friedman), traces the progression from the explosion of capitalism in the eighteenth century to the rise of the modern welfare state
  
• “How to Cure Health Care” (2001), his elegant and commonsense plan for health care reform is a solution vastly superior to Obamacare
  

The Indispensable Milton Friedman provides insight into the far-reaching thought of one of the twentieth century’s most influential men. It will also arm readers with crucial understanding about what it means—and what it takes—to be truly free. It deserves a place on the bookshelf of every true proponent of the free market.