Comments on: Milton Friedman is Dead

By: Debunking the Tragedy of the Commons | Citizen Renaissance

Debunking the Tragedy of the Commons | Citizen Renaissance — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:45:43 +0000

[...] win is all the more notable as many past winners, such as Milton Friedman , have been staunch proponents of free-market neoliberal economics. Ostrom now joins others, such [...]

By: Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:55:16 +0000

I am not sure I agree with you, Jamey.

Are you not looking at this through an anachronistic lens – with the assumption that only financial profits can support employees and customers? Good corporate citizenship is surely a strategic imperative? Without principles of responsibility, employees and customers will understandably question a company’s License to Operate.

By: Jamey

Jamey — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:09:12 +0000

So much to comment on here, but I’ll choose a small portion.
“Furthermore, recent Trust data confirms that companies now need to consider the interests of their employees and those of their customers ahead of the interests of the shareholder – proof-positive of the shift from a singular shareholder to a multiple stakeholder focus for businesses and business leaders today. This move, in itself, puts the Friedman doctrine to the sword.”
I think this is more a reflection of the timely shift of what makes companies successful. Keeping the interests of employees and customers in mind above the simplistic bottom line ensures the long-term financial health of a company through retaining talent and customers. It is no stretch to include customers in the ‘employer’ definition of the corporate executive mentioned in the article.
Almost 40 years later, it is no surprise that what is in the interest of the company’s long term survival is not the same as it was 40 years ago. However, that does not make Friedman’s point any less valid. Non-strategic spending in order to be a good corporate citizen makes a corporation less viable, and less able to support its employees and customers in the future.

By: Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:46:58 +0000

Fair point and confession: I was effectively using the soundbite ‘MF is Dead’ in answer to those who still appear to want to place profit ahead of wider responsibilities in business. To quote the late Alan Clarke, maybe I was being a bit too ‘economic with the actualite’ of it all. But I also wanted to nail those who still seems to advocate ‘profit without responsibility’ – free markets or not.

The progressive agenda is of course pursuing the small government/ big society thought – and I suppose Friedman and Lawson would probably concur with at least the first part of this. My wider point is that responbsibility needs to come from within and from a principled, ethical base and not regulated from without or ‘above’.

By: david brain

david brain — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:21:29 +0000

Difficult to argues with the statement that Milton Friedman is dead, because of course he is. Here’s a review of his life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman. As you can see he had a long and distinguished career and he said many things.

Are you saying that everything he said is now bunk (or dead)? In which case I would say he is very much alive and with us. The mecahnism of the free market remains the least flawed lense through which to look at things in my view and I’m going to guess most people in the UK and places beyond. Or are you tilting at the famous quote that business should: “make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom”?

Here’s the full text of that: http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

No question that society right now does expect more than that, but his quote is slightly more nuanced than most of us remember. “Ethical customs” could be argued to cover a lot.

My sense is you need to focus your attack a little to the narrow version of that quote, because generally many, many people agree with ideas like the role of government should be as small as possible and that free markets are not always at odds with responsibility and what’s right for a society as whole.