Friedman

Neoliberalism Beyond the Heartlands

Much of the historical analysis of neoliberalism, both its ideological roots and its outcomes, has focused on U.S. and Europe, with figures...

Covid-19, TikTok, and Milton Friedman: ProMarket’s Top Stories of 2020

As 2020 draws to a close, we look back at ProMarket’s most-read and most-widely shared stories of the past year.

There Is a Direct Line from Milton Friedman to Donald Trump’s Assault on Democracy

Milton Friedman believed that corporations have a social responsibility to play within the rules of the game. But corporations aren’t just players...

Strength in Numbers: Using Data to Track Diversity and Inclusion

Recent protests against racism and police brutality, along with the #MeToo movement, have increased pressure on businesses to measure and improve their...

Shareholder Value and Social Responsibility Are Not At Odds

Being socially responsible can, and frequently does, make good business sense. There are plenty of opportunities for companies to do well by...

Data-Driven Ideology: The Problem With Economists' Takeover of Policymaking

According to New York Times journalist Binyamin Appelbaum's recent book The Economists' Hour, economics is not the unbiased science that it pretends to be, but...

How Powerful Ideas Can Shape Society: Aaron Director and the Triumph of Nihilism

The rise of giants like Amazon and Facebook proves the long-lasting influence of Director's approach. His intellectual and political legacy is the transition of...

Standard Oil and Antitrust: the Effects of Aaron Director's Socratic Method

Aaron Director, who died 15 years ago, made important contributions to the analysis of business practices. None were ever published under his name. Professor...

Where Friedman Was Wrong

A new paper by Oliver Hart and Luigi Zingales argues that a company’s objective should be the maximization of shareholders’ welfare, not value.  In 1970,...

LATEST NEWS

Creation over Time in Copyright and Patent

On May 18, the United States Supreme Court decided two intellectual property cases with two seemingly different results. A closer look, however, reveals a complimentary concern with the monopolistic power of first movers and how the legal system should enable innovation from second movers over time, writes Randy Picker.

ESG Standards’ Good, Bad and Ugly

The Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State hosted a virtual event discussing the standards, metrics and disclosures of investments focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. The following is a transcript of the event.

Reregulate.

Lee Hepner and William J. McGee respond to Clifford Winston’s ProMarket piece asserting that further deregulation of the airline industry would resolve problems in the industry. Instead, the authors claim a return to regulation would produce better results for travelers.

A World With Far Fewer Mergers

Brooke Fox and Walter Frick analyze research and ideas presented at the Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference that question the value of mergers.

The Banking Risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies

The implementation of central bank digital currencies as the primary medium of exchange would exacerbate the flaws of our current fiat system which encourage banks to overextend credit and create liabilities that they cannot redeem. This will worsen the already recurring cycles of financial crises, writes Vibhu Vikramaditya.