Friedman Neoliberalism

In short, this is the well-known story that depicts the free market as the greatest blessing that could ever occur in human history  or as the greatest curse, it depends on the viewpoint from which one considers the matter. Now, considering the global diffusion of this narrative it seems not so inappropriate to speak of a stroke of genius as regards how neoliberalism succeeded in convincing the global audience that everything is about the free market, and not about a revolution in the art of governing people both through enterprises and publicthrough both enterprises and public institutions. The premise for this has been, as we suggested, to promote a conception of antitrust that could leave room for the the willingness of big corporations to develop themselves by taking advantage of governmental protections. The neoliberal discourse, thus, makes pass for a theory of the free market what it is in reality a very
We refer to Friedman (1951), a short text that could be considered as a sort of manifesto of neoliberalism, which, this must be admitted, has been then obscured, not surprisingly, by his later, and more famous, Capitalism and Freedom (Friedman 1962). At the beginning of the glorious history of the Chicago School (Friedman was appointed there in 1943) Friedman takes stance in an unequivocal manner against any form of laissez-faire policy. Of course, among the enemies that the Western civilisation must fight we find mentioned communism too. While the latter, sooner or later, is going to be defeated, Friedman deems much more important to draw attention to the wrong idea according to which the state has nothing to do as regards the improvement of the economic order within which individual life can thrive and prosper. For a long time, laissez-faire policies have been an appropriate means to improving the freedom of