Various government agencies have been created on the claim that they will protect the consumer. These agencies restrict freedom, stifle beneficial innovation, and become agents for the industries or groups they are intended to regulate. Friedman explains how the apparent chaos of the market place, the competition of many suppliers for business, is the best protection of consumer interests.
Great series. I picked up on it in my blog. He also does an interesting piece on the book "I,Pencil" that is worth checking out if you haven't already.
ReplyDeleteFriedman was a formidable debater. He also was a world class statistician who developed "sequential sampling" in his testing of armament shipments in WWII. The statistics community regretted that he chose economics as a profession.
Thanks for putting a link on your site pointing back here. Friedman has a nice way of making many of his debaters look pretty silly. I believe the "Pencil" story is in Part 1 of this series. I for one am glad Friedman chose economics instead of statistics, otherwise no one know who he was or be exposed to his ideas.
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