Abstract
Since the death of Keynes, no economist has exerted a comparable influence to that of Friedman. He influenced economists’ methodology before he influenced their policy prescriptions: positive economics was the antidote to the use of ‘arbitrary’ principles such as Occam’s razor which sought to discriminate between ‘formal models of imaginary worlds’ (Friedman 1953, 283). As a policy analyst, Friedman displayed ‘inventiveness’ (Stigler 1998, 155). His advocacy of flexible exchange rates is a classic illustration of the process by which academic ideas become fertile.
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© 2003 Robert Leeson
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Leeson, R. (2003). The Nature and Origins of Friedman’s Influence. In: Ideology and the International Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286023_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286023_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-50898-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28602-3
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