Bright Promises, Dismal Performance: An Economist's Protest (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Nobel Prize winner writes here on current issues of prevailing concern to every American citizen and taxpayer, displaying the powers of analysis and expression that have made him one of the most widely respected economists in America. Edited and with an Introduction by William R. Allen.

About the Author

Milton Friedman is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the Paul Snowden Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago. In 1976 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. He has written a number of books, including two with his wife, Rose D. Friedman—the bestselling Free to Choose and Two Lucky People: Memoirs, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Trade ed edition (May 31, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156141612
• ISBN-13: 978-0156141611
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #893,862 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great material presented more efficiently in Free to Choose, December 23, 2004

By	Jerry H. Tempelman "[e-mail]" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the third and final edition of a collection of Milton Friedman's Newsweek columns which ran from the mid 1960s through the early 1980s, along with a few other things such as Friedman's interview in Playboy, February 1973, and a few newspaper articles. The columns in this volume ran from 1975-1982. In addition, there are three particularly timeless columns from an earlier period (on the case for a monetary rule and on the negative income tax), as well as the Playboy interview. The contents covers Friedman's usual repertoire about monetary policy, fiscal policy and taxation, government regulation, and international economics.

Part of Friedman's brilliance is his ability to explain advanced economic concepts to general readers without "dumbing down" the substance. Still, the bulk of the material appears in slightly better organized fashion in the book Free to Choose, which Friedman wrote together with his wife Rose, and which appeared in 1980. You may first want to read Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose. If you want more Friedman at that point, this makes for a great collection, although much of it may sound repetitive after reading Free to Choose.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem on Every Page, September 19, 2008

By	Joy Schwabach - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No one tells it like it is better than Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman. His Newsweek columns and Playboy interview will open your eyes. Here's a sample: "If we'd had minimum wage laws and all the other trappings of the welfare state in the nineteenth century, half the readers of Playboy would either not exist at all or be citizens of Poland."

Some things have improved since he wrote those words, but that's thanks largely to the free market principles he's espoused. You'll find no better guide to today's political scene than Friedman's writings, whether here or in his excellent books "Free to Choose," and "Capitalism and Freedom."