Blog cafe : Controversy over Friedman

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: Milton Friedman was one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished economists, and one of the century’s three economists (the other two being John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek) who had the greatest political influence. Friedman spent most of his career at the University of Chicago, so it is natural that the University should name a major new component of the University, devoted to economic research, after him. The use of his name will help the University raise funds for the new Institute.

The decision, announced five months ago, has generated controversy on the University campus, sharpened by the current economic crisis that is thought in some circles to have damaged Friedman’s legacy (it has certainly damaged Alan Greenspan’s legacy). Some 170 faculty members have signed a petition —which opposes the decision naming the new institute after Friedman—asking that a meeting of the University Senate be convened to discuss the decision. The stated ground of opposition is that naming the Institute after Friedman would constitute the University’s endorsement of his political views and would bias the research conducted by the Institute in favor of the free-market ideology that Friedman promoted so strongly. But the opposition is also and probably primarily powered by distaste for Friedman’s political and policy views and for his willingness to provide economic advice to the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Friedman’s association with policies that are either liberal or politically neutral, such as the volunteer army, the earned income tax credit (the negative income tax), the legalization of the laws against marijuana and other mind-altering drugs, and even affirmative action, is overlooked.