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Friedman won the Nobel Prize for his work on the theory of the consumption function, and was well regarded for monetarism. It's a little bit of a stretch that a
by lr4444lr 9y ago
Friedman won the Nobel Prize for his work on the theory of the consumption function, and was well regarded for monetarism. It's a little bit of a stretch that a whole "school of thought" of corporate management stems from some guest op-ed he had in the NYTimes.
- ryanobjc 9y agoThe very first paragraph of the linked article notes exactly this: "No popular idea ever has a single origin. But the idea that the sole purpose of a firm is to make money for its shareholders got going in a major way with an article by Milton Friedman in the New York Times on September 13, 1970."
- ktRolster 9y agoI'd be willing to bet that the majority of business owners throughout history have had a similar thought. Not that there's any way to test that claim bet.
- Animats 9y agoWhat's gone is corporate fear of labor. Of unions. Of strikes. Of your company being nationalized, as in the UK in the 1950s. Of communism winning economically, something business people worried about from 1930 to 1970. At last, oppression of workers is back! For about forty years, capitalism had ideological competition. There was a competitor, and capitalism had to deliver a better standard of living to compete. With the competition defeated, capitalism has a monopoly, and acts like a monopolist. "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever." - Orwell
- gameshot911 9y agoInteresting thought that an ideology itself could suffer from the bloat/excess inherent in any monopoly. Thanks for sharing.
- wavefunction 9y agoI imagine most business owners have a much more complex and nuanced understanding of their business, what it means to them, etc. I mean, going off of Friedman's nonsense deriving a feeling of accomplishment from your business would be meaningless.
- mcguire 9y agoFriedman also introduced one of the least scientific ideas into economics.[1] Sciencism at it's best. [1] https://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/against-friedman-why-assumptions-matter/ https://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/against...
- FullMtlAlcoholc 9y agoBy the way, that is a fake Nobel Prize as it is not associated with the Nobel Foundation. It is actually the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in MEMORY of Alfred Nobel. It has a decidedly political slant pushing for exclusively pro free-market policies and only awarding it those studies.