===================== HES POSTING =================== In response to Tony Brewer's comments: One has to admit, however, that Milton Friedman is part of a group of economists who are particularly frustrating (to me at least) because they consistently, disingenuously, conflate private goals and preferences with economic theory. Friedman has written some brilliant papers on economic theory; he has also presented his own views on social goals as if they were the inevitable conclusion of any sound economic theory -- leaving a lay audience unable to distinguish between where the profession ends and Milton Friedman begins. If he is going to publicly present his own personal viewpoints as representative of the profession of economics (which he does: witness his PBS specials on economics), then he should be subject to open criticism within the profession as to where those viewpoints have led in the real world. I have had to explain to more than one non-economist that Friedman won his Nobel Prize for economic scholarship, not for his political views. .... I think. Mary Schweitzer, Assoc. Prof., Dept. of History, Villanova University (on leave since January 1995) <[log in to unmask]> ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]