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A Conversation with Milton Friedman

As Interviewed by Richard W. Fisher

Dallas Fed president and CEO Richard W. Fisher sat down with economist Milton Friedman on October 19, 2005, as part of ongoing discussions with the Nobel Prize winner. In a wide-ranging interview, Friedman and Fisher discuss a myriad of topics, including globalization, China, the Federal Reserve, free trade, government spending and education reform.

Dr. Friedman passed away on Novermber 16, 2006.

Interview Video Clips video

  • Introductory Comments by Richard W. Fisher(1:24)
     
  • The Battleground for Ideas (2:27)
    “Over the course of time there had been developing increasing public understanding that socialism was not an appropriate way to run a country.”
     
  • New Competitors or New Cooperators? (6:25)
    “We have nothing to be afraid of from cooperating with a great mass of the world’s population, but everything to gain from it.”
     
  • Three Categories of Freedom (3:40)
    “It’s my opinion…That political freedom will result from economic freedom. Or else economic freedom will be terminated.”
     
  • Three Roles of Government (2:29)
    “I think the appropriate role of government is not very different anywhere around the world.”
     
  • “Nobody wants to give something up” (5:41)
    “Nobody wants to give something up, and yet, somehow or other, everybody has to give something up if they’re going to have a better country.”
     
  • Spending Money (2:42)
    “…as government has increased spending, we make ourselves a less attractive society in which to set up businesses, in which to run businesses.”
     
  • Reforming Social Security (3:59)
    “Most entitlements, in my opinion, are not justified. They do not serve a useful function.”
     
  • Free Trade on a Thousand Pages? (6:10)
    “You get free trade on a thousand pages? It’s a thousand pages of rules and regulations. It’s the opposite of free trade.”
     
  • A Productive Global Economy (4:59)
    “You read the newspapers and you think the world is going to hell. You think the economy is doing badly. And yet, the truth is, that we have never in our history had as productive an economy as we do right now.”
     
  • Creative Destruction (3:21)
     “…what we’re doing is not losing jobs, we’re making opportunities for our people, for people in the United States to use their skills in the most effective way, by enabling them to combine more effectively with other people.”
     
  • Education Reform (9:42)
    “…give the market a chance and the market will produce something different than what we now have; and something much better than what we now have.”
     
  • The Future of America (3:12)
    “If freedom is going to be lost in America, it will be lost by excessive government involvement.”

Additional Friedman Resources

"Free to Choose" Conference Video Clips video

Some of the nation's most preeminent economists discussed Dr. Friedman's ideas and contributions at a Dallas Fed conference in 2003.

Friedman Resources

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Interview Video Clips
"Free to Choose" Conference Video Clips
Friedman Resources
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