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What Jennifer Burns thinks about economists

@jennifer-burns · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

Historian of ideas at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, and the biographer of both Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand.

Jennifer Burns did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

6 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Jennifer Burns has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingMilton Friedman won debates on cheerfulness and confidence rather than on argument, and Ayn Rand lost them because disagreement made her angry.

    Their wordsMilton Friedman, he also does tend to have friends who agree with him, yet he's always willing to debate his opponents, and he's willing to do so with a smile on his face. He's a happy warrior, and he actually will win a lot of debates simply by his emotional affect and his cheerfulness and his confidence, where Rand will lose debates because she gets so angry in the face of disagreement.

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

  3. Our readingThe Chicago School's radical Depression-era proposals were meant as emergency measures, never as a permanent renegotiation of the line between state and market.

    Their wordsWhat is important to note though is that they thought of all of those as emergency measures to get through the emergency not as permanent alterations in the state of what had to be and not permanent alterations between state and market

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 5th of 20 in this recording

  5. Our readingMilton Friedman would have backed the first rounds of coronavirus relief, because he treated an emergency as a category where his ordinary rules were suspended.

    Their wordsMilton Friedman is very open to doing things differently in a state of emergency. He will have different ideas during World War II than any other time and that's why I argue I think he would have been supportive of at least the first rounds of coronavirus relief because I think he would have put his emergency thinking hat on.

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 6th of 20 in this recording

  7. Our readingMilton Friedman is almost single-handedly responsible for there being any political and ideological diversity in the field of economics at all.

    Their wordsAnd almost single-handedly, Friedman will introduce political and ideological diversity into the field of economics because, from his beachhead in Chicago, he will develop the theory of monetarism.

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 7th of 20 in this recording

  9. Our readingFriedman's universal minimum income went nowhere precisely because it was pure and free of moral judgment, which made it beautiful and politically impossible.

    Their wordsAnd Friedman advanced a policy that was really abstract and really it was devoid of judgment. It was pure and beautiful in that way but utterly impractical.

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 10th of 20 in this recording

  11. Our readingMilton Friedman's body of work rests on his collaborations with women, and without Anna Schwartz and Rose Friedman his resume would be far thinner than it is.

    Their wordsBut she shared many of his ideas and when I think of Friedman, if you take away Anna Schwartz, if you take away Rose Friedman, if you take away the other woman who collaborated with him, you have a much thinner resume than the one he actually has.

    ↗Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Economics, Capitalism, Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #457youtube.com 15th of 20 in this recording