MIlton Friedman, passed away aged 94
Michael Ellis: Yes, it is Michael Ellis here. I recently read your book “Free To Choose”, in which you describe problems like unsustainable social security, government overspending and poor-quality state provided education. This book is now thirty years old, but it still describes current reality. Why do you think these problems have not been tackled?
Milton Friedman: They have been tackled but they haven’t been solved. And they haven’t been solved because there haven’t been enough people like you and me who are in favour of solving them. There are no shortcuts to these. One of the things that is most impressive is the strength of vested interest. Rose and I titled one of our books, “The Tyranny of the Status Quo”. And that’s what is very depressing. It is much easier to get some policy adopted by government than it is to get rid of it when it doesn’t work. Because every programme that is adopted establishes a group of people that have a strong vested interest in it, while the harm it does tends to be spread broadly. And a little bit here and a little bit there, and nobody who is effected that way has an incentive to do much about it.
The example I always use in discussing this in the United States is a quota on sugar. We have a sugar quota that had a historical role , having nothing to do with economics, but with Cuba. Once it was adopted you can’t get rid of it. And you can’t get rid of it because it’s effect is to impose a small sum of a dollar or two or three on each of the millions of housewives while the producers of sugar cane and sugar beets, who are protected by it, have a strong interest in it. They will testify in congress for its continuation, while no sugar customer will go to congress to testify against it. And the same thing is true with many of the other programmes you just mentioned.
From the ACT Party Website.
Milton Friedman: They have been tackled but they haven’t been solved. And they haven’t been solved because there haven’t been enough people like you and me who are in favour of solving them. There are no shortcuts to these. One of the things that is most impressive is the strength of vested interest. Rose and I titled one of our books, “The Tyranny of the Status Quo”. And that’s what is very depressing. It is much easier to get some policy adopted by government than it is to get rid of it when it doesn’t work. Because every programme that is adopted establishes a group of people that have a strong vested interest in it, while the harm it does tends to be spread broadly. And a little bit here and a little bit there, and nobody who is effected that way has an incentive to do much about it.
The example I always use in discussing this in the United States is a quota on sugar. We have a sugar quota that had a historical role , having nothing to do with economics, but with Cuba. Once it was adopted you can’t get rid of it. And you can’t get rid of it because it’s effect is to impose a small sum of a dollar or two or three on each of the millions of housewives while the producers of sugar cane and sugar beets, who are protected by it, have a strong interest in it. They will testify in congress for its continuation, while no sugar customer will go to congress to testify against it. And the same thing is true with many of the other programmes you just mentioned.
From the ACT Party Website.
posted by Michael at
1:55 PM
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