|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
"Milton Friedman is one of the nation's outstanding economists, distinguished for remarkable analytical powers and technical virtuosity. He is unfailingly enlightening, independent, courageous, penetrating, and above all, stimulating." - Henry Hazlitt, Newsweek
Book Description
Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war"
How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.
How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Modern Libertarian Bible,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
It has taken me these many years to get around to reading this classic on libertarian capitalism and, contrary to the views of a growing number of economic naysayers, Friedman still has plenty to tell us as to how the economy should operate if given its rightful freedom. For one, political and economic freedom go hand in hand according to Friedman's philosophy derived from his mentor Friedrich Hayek and the Austrian School. To an increasing number of libertarians across this country, government should be shrinking to the point of collecting less taxes, reducing bureaucratic demands, and letting people decide for themselves what is good for the economy. In this environment of deregulation, marijuana as a grow-op might be considered a good business practice if only governments would start legalizing it. Invariably, it is the mythical power of the marketplace that will determine the outcome of such ventures. The same argument applies, in Friedman's mind, to globalization with the expansion of international trade. Slapping currency exchange restrictions and tariffs on trade between countries only limits the potential for markets to work to their optimum. Inside a country, fiscal policy should work hand in glove with monetary policy to lower corporate taxes, keep interest rates low, and remove tariff barriers between states and provinces. Big governments should be spending more time creating opportunities for economic investment than creating level playing fields for social equality. If the first works properly, the second will naturally follow. Poverty, in his estimation, occurs when politicians attempt to redistribute income across society by raising taxes on the rich, thus creating a deepening sense of welfare entitlement. Marketing boards and quota systems are the bane of any capitalistic order that thrives on untrammelled competition. For those of us who are still recovering from the shock of the market meltdown in 2008 and beyond, Friedman might remind us that the problem was not so much the lack of regulation as the fact that government was too involved in the life of the economy with having to manage a rising deficit ceiling, servicing a growing debt, and enforcing an ineffective tax system. To those who might think that Friedman is a largely discredited thinker and economist, think again. Here is a man whose views still carry significant sway with the likes of Ron Paul, the Bilderberg Group, multi-national corporations, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Recommended!,
By
This review is from: Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition (Hardcover)
This is a new edition of Milton Friedman's classic 1962 capitalist manifesto. As such, it was ignored, spurned and hated for decades by the intellectual, post-Keynesian establishment. In the 60s, Friedman once found himself debating a liberal who attacked him by simply reciting Friedman's views of the proper role of government. This was working rather well with the audience of college students until he quoted Friedman's opposition to the military draft. Friedman suddenly found himself awash in the unexpected cheers of students. Perhaps it was a foreshadowing of his career. Friedman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976, and his ideas gained some degree of mainstream acceptance in the Reagan years - although many of his thoughts remain controversial. To the extent that Friedman debunks myths about the Great Depression that are widely accepted as fact, perhaps he has a point about the semi-privatization of education. We strongly recommend this volume to those who seek a deeper understanding of government's role in a free-market economy.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone says they love freedom but...,
By
This review is from: Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
few actually define their terms.It is obvious that most of the people who speak out against books like this one have never read anything from an individualist, classical liberal or otherwise pro-market point of view. There is nothing noble about thinking that the government must do everything for everyone (which also presupposes that everyone must do as they are told by the government). If you have only heard the nonsensical leftist view of "capitalism" this is a book for you. WARNING: It will challenge you to actually think about the subject, not just have a knee-jerk reaction! One previous review here quoted the following from Milton Friedman, in the Financial Times (UK) June 2003: "The use of quantity of money as a target has not been a success. I'm not sure that I would as of today push it as hard as I once did." From these two sentences the reviewer attempted to conclude: "There you are, the ideas of this book have been repudiated by the man himself. What more evidence do you need to show they are wrong?" This is typical of the low level of thought that is used to criticize works like this. A slight change in opinion about a particular issue in NO way constitutes a "repudiation" of a lifetime's work. Just read it for yourself and see what you have been missing!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Free Enterprise
- Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Theory
- Books > Business & Investing > Popular Economics > Policy & Current Events
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Business & Finance > Economics > Economic Theory
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science > Political Ideologies
- Books > Nonfiction > Economics > Free Enterprise
- Books > Nonfiction > Economics > Theory
- Books > Nonfiction > Politics
- Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > Economics > Free Enterprise
- Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > Economics > Theory
- Books > Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 > Business & Investing
- Books > Science > Earth Sciences > Geography > Regional
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
