*Chicagonomics: The Evolution of Chicago Free Market Economics*

That is the new book from Lanny Ebenstein, I found it well-written and useful.  You can read about Henry Simons, the Cowles Commission, Hayek, Jacob Marschak, of course Milton Friedman, and much mmore.  Friedman, by the way, originally had intended to become an actuary.

Here is Friedman on Hayek from an Ebenstein interview from 1995:

Q: How would you describe Hayek personally?

A: In terms of his personal characteristics, Hayek was a very complicated personality.  He was by no means a simple person.  He was very outgoing in one sense but at the same time very private.  He did not like criticism, but he never showed that he didn’t like criticism.  His attitude under criticism, as I found, was to say: “Well, that’s a very interesting thing. At the moment, I am busy, but I’ll write to you about it more later.”  And then he never would!

Friedman is extremely frank about Hayek in this interview, and repeatedly mentions that he objected to how Hayek treated his first wife.  I have never seen Friedman be so negative, or for that matter so emotionally involved, and when it comes to The Fatal Conceit he simply avers: “It’s not up to Hayek at his best.”

You can then turn to two pages of Paul Samuelson, in a letter to Ebenstein, criticizing Milton Friedman.  Ebenstein, by the way, argues that Friedman is essentially a left-wing, utilitarian thinker.

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