*The Great Persuasion*
That is the new book by Angus Burgin and the subtitle is Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression. As I had suspected, it is interesting. Here is the core thesis:
To Hayek and the other founders of the Mont Pelerin Society, Friedman’s ascent within its orbit reflected the collapse of its attempt to integrate a restrained defense of free markets into a traditionalist worldview. In the broader social environment Friedman’s rise portended, and precipitated, the triumphant return of laissez-faire.
One thing which strikes me reading this book, as it does when I reread Friedman’s 1962 Capitalism and Freedom, is how much market-oriented writers of that era were not focused on the problems of old people, even though today those problems take up a huge chunk of the budget of the federal government.
I found this excerpt interesting:
In stark contrast to the early post-war years, Friedman would conclude near the end of his career that “there are too many damn think tanks now,” adding that they simply “don’t have the talent for it.”