Economics Questions

Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

Michelangelo — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:16:02 GMT

We could always just ask his son what his fathers, and his own views, are on the Federal Reserve. He's been gracious enough to answer our questions in the past, so hopefully he'll oblidge us again.

David Friedman David Friedman David Friedman!

Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

John James — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:08:11 GMT

Friedman, 1995: "The difference between me and people like Murray Rothbard is that, though I want to know what my ideal is, I think I also have to be willing to discuss changes that are less than ideal so long as they point me in that direction. So while I'd like to abolish the Fed, I've written many pages on how the Fed, if it does exist, should be run."

Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

ThatOldGuy — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:23 GMT

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Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

Dylan of Rivia — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:31:34 GMT

Bottom line: no one belived them and many mock them, but austrians were right all the time.

Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

Vladimir Ulyanov — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:15:50 GMT

Friedman advocated a free banking system toward the end of his life.

Re: Friedman stops believing in the fed

Smiling Dave — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:07:25 GMT

Folly is more resilient than you think.

Has his son changed his views? Has Krugman? Has anyone?

Friedman stops believing in the fed

yessir — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:02:13 GMT

This is the only conclusion I can reach after reading this. In it Friedman argued that the greenspan era showed that the federal reserve "have the technical abilty to maintain stable prices". Since this article was in 2006, I can only assume that the events of the next few years (had Friedman been alive) exposed the folly of average price levels, stable prices, monetary tinkering, low inflation won't hurt argument etc...